Life improved with him
by theausllydoctor
Summary: AU, as always. Ally Dawson lives a stressful life- single, two jobs, a tough financial state and her father has just been hospitalized for a heart attack. What happens when a handsome blonde tenant moves into her apartment building? He may just be the guy Ally has been in search of her whole life. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting much since** _ **A new diagnosis**_ **, I just got over serious writers' block. On the positive, you guys have this to look forward to! In fact, not only do I have a new story, but I'll be very likely updating frequently because I just started summer vacation, and I have a job starting on June 7, and I will be working three days a week from Nine in the morning until one in the afternoon. I'm going to start my senior year of high school in the fall- oh my god I'm terrified because I'm growing up way too fast! But I'm excited, too, it's my senior year. OK, I don't want to bore you to death and ramble on and on and on- here's the story!**

 **ALLY:**

My name is Ally Dawson. I'm twenty-five and I've lived in Miami for pretty much my whole life. For a living, I teach english to seventh and eighth graders at Kinloch Park Middle School (My mom is a professor in Nature Studies at University of Miami, and I saw my inspiration through her to be a teacher. I was a straight A student from Kindergarten to College, and I had a passion for english), and I've been doing that for three years. I love my job, and my students, no matter how rude, disrespectful and let's face it, disruptive, they can be at times, but that doesn't mean it doesn't stress me out at times. I have kids who talk, curse, sleep, text, chew gum in class (It really drives me up the wall when people are chewing gum and you can see it or when they blow bubbles- that drives me CRACKERS), homework, paper and tests to grade, and the salary is so awful that I have a second job at Starbucks coffee four days a week.

I don't have a boyfriend and I haven't since I was twenty-one. I guess I just kind of lost faith in my love life. I had a boyfriend named Kevin Harvard for three years. But I broke up with him after he cheated on me by having sex with another woman and he also got drunk a lot and he was arrested for drunk driving. I'm not in the best financial state right now- to start I'm a teacher, I have a terrible salary.

Today, we were going over _Oliver Twist_ , one of my favorite books when I was in high school. I was having my students read at least thirty minutes every night, and we had just finished the book, which made me want to assign a paper on it. I wrote on the whiteboard (I didn't use a chalkboard. I had an allergy to dust and for some reason chalk on a chalkboard really made me uncomfortable), that the paper had to have a ten to twelve six font, had to be double spaced, and had to have a minimum of two hundred words. I said,

"Now, the paper that I want you to write, has to be on _Oliver Twist_. It's due next week- on the twenty-second of September. It has to be ten to twelve size font, double spaced and it must have at least two hundred words. Most importantly, no plagiarism! If you plagiarize, that's an automatic F. Any questions?"

One of my students who I felt I had an antagonistic relationship with, his name was Danny Fonda, raised his hand. I was almost dreading calling on him since he had the most behavioral problems in my class. He cursed in class, texted in class and sometimes even cheated on tests, which explained why he was failing my class. Oh well, at least he raised his hand. A lot of my students yelled out their comments instead of raised their hands.

"Yes, Danny?"

He started smirking and then started giggling.

"What the fuck is this plagiarizing shit that's coming out of your big ass mouth?"

Most of the class started laughing. I wasn't surprised by it, but I still didn't like it. I told him,

"Mr. Fonda, how many times have I told you not to use that kind of language in class? It's rude and disrespectful and I won't put up with it."

The classroom consequences were:

A verbal reminder.

A verbal warning.

Principal's office.

Call parents.

Parent-teacher conference.

If you got three conferences in one week, it meant suspension for two weeks. If you got three suspensions in a semester, you got expelled. Brendan Carroll, Danny's partner in crime as I liked to call him, because they were best friends and the ones most notorious for causing mayhem in my class, asked,

"What's plagiarism?"

I said,

"Why don't you tell me?"

Sometimes I felt that being a smartass to people who were being a smartass to you was the best way to bounce back.

"It's stealing peoples' words from the internet and claiming they're your own. It's a crime in school where not only do you get an F, but in some cases, suspension is warranted."

A girl who I got along with, named Leah Levinson, was fumbling with her thick framed glasses said,

"I don't wanna get suspended or get an F. I wanna go to high school next year!"

I smiled.

"I'm sure you won't, Leah. Just follow these guidelines, turn it in on time, don't plagiarize, and do the best you can, and you'll be fine. I know you can write a great paper."

"Thanks, Ms. Dawson."

I said,

"You're welcome. I know all of you can write a great paper."

I handed out twenty-six sheets of paper with the assignment on it, one for each of my students. The bell rang. Work was over for me and class was over for my students. I packed up my laptop and my containers and utensils from my lunch, and got in my car and drove to my apartment. I was glad because I had no work at Starbucks today, and I had had a long day.

Telling kids to stop talking in class, telling them to put their phones away, and I had to shout at my third period who were throwing spit balls and throwing paper airplanes. I hated it when I had to shout at my class, but it did get annoying when you had students who you had to tell three, four or five times to stop misbehaving and I didn't want to have to go to that length. I was getting a call on my phone from the South Miami hospital. My phone was a gold iPhone 6S with a case that was coral on the top and gold on the bottom.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Allison Dawson?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Hello, Allison, this is Dr. Gelman."

Dr. Gelman was my dad's primary doctor. I wondered why he was calling me.

"Hi, Dr. Gelman, what's going on?"

"Your father has recently suffered a heart attack. Your stepmother brought him here."

I was so scared.

"Is he OK?"

"We're working on him. You are free to visit him, he's in ICU."

Great. As if my day wasn't long enough, now my dad had had a heart attack? I said,

"Thanks, Doctor. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

I got into the hospital and checked in, going up in the elevator.

 **First chapter so far! Don't be afraid to review, I love reviews! And the same goes for following and favoriting! Love you guys, and I hope you're all having an awesome memorial day weekend/summer! Peace, love, hugs and kisses :)**


	2. Chapter 2

ALLY:

I walked to my dad's hospital room. I saw my stepmother, Katie Gilroy-Dawson and I tightly embraced her. I had no step-siblings because Katie didn't have any kids of her own. My parents had been apart since I was nine years old- so sixteen years now. My dad met Katie when I was thirteen and they got married when I was sixteen.

I saw my dad laying in bed, laying there like he was dead, or at least, like the scene in _Snow White and the seven dwarves_ , where she bit the poison apple and keeled over.

I asked Katie,

"How is he?"

Katie whispered,

"Lester hasn't moved in the last hour. But I have hope."

"Me too."

In attempt to lighten the mood a little bit, Katie asked me,

"How was work today?"

I sighed.

"It was so-so. Things that came out of my mouth at least three times were stop, no talking, watch your language, put your phone away, stop texting, etcetera, etcetera. I love my job, but at the same time, it can sometimes be all the gray hairs that I'm getting. Hell, I even had to raise my voice at my third period class because a lot of them were being so rude- talking, blowing bubbles with their gum, texting and the like."

My stepmother studied my hair.

"Stressful."

"I know. But otherwise, I like my students and my job, even though the salary is terrible, and sometimes my students' behavior gives me headaches, and I'm supposed to be the bigger person, which I am."

A doctor walked in, saying,

"I'm here to take some vital signs."

He pulled the electronic sphygmomanometer and wrapped the cuff on my dad's arm. His blood pressure was eighty over fifty. He took the stethoscope, listening to my dad's heartbeat. I asked him,

"Is my father OK?"

"Yes, I think your father will be fine. He has to stay in the hospital for up to seventy two hours."

Even though my dad probably couldn't hear me, I kissed him and I said,

"I wish you well."

I turned to Katie and asked her,

"Do you want a ride home, Katie?"

"That would be lovely. My car is at home considering I rode in the ambulance with your dad."

I said,

"Sounds like you could use a ride home."

My stepmother and I walked down to the parking lot, and I got her into my car, a white honda civic. I drove my stepmother back to her house and I said,

"I really hope my dad's OK."

"Me too. It scared the hell out of me. Your dad was having chest pain and he was sweating like an animal. I called 911 when he passed out on the ground."

"Good that you did that. I would miss him to death if he passed."

"Same here, sweetheart."

I pulled up in front of my dad and Katie's house.

"Thanks for the ride, Ally."

I said,

"You're welcome. I hope you're OK."

My stepmother said,

"I think I'll be fine. Same to you."

I hugged her and she kissed my cheek. She climbed out of my car. It was around four-thirty when I got home and I went to my mailbox. A cell phone bill from AT&T (AT&T had always been my carrier. I got the best deal), a credit card bill from Chase, the latest issue of _Cosmopolitan_ and a postcard from _A new smile dental center_ , my dentist's office, saying I was due for another checkup within two weeks. I looked at my calendar and decided next friday I'd go to the dentist, considering I worked at Starbucks Monday to Thursday from four to eight, and obviously my teaching job was Monday through Friday from eight-thirty to three.

I called the office and scheduled an appointment for next friday at four. I had just gotten to my apartment and I just sat down to watch some TV. I heard a knock at the door, it was Trish De La Rosa, my best friend of twenty years. She was in her work uniform- a light blue scrub top with Anna and Elsa from _Frozen_ on it, light blue scrub pants and Nike sneakers, and her black hair was in big fluffy curls. She was looking at me sympathetically.

"Hey, Ally. I just came over to make sure you're OK."

"Thanks, Trish. I'm worried about my dad, but I think he'll be OK. I have hope."

Trish and her boyfriend, Jace Dillon, lived one floor above me. We hung out together all the time.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Look I know Trish really ended up with Chuck on the show, but like I said, this is an AU. Because in all honesty I liked Trish with Jace as a couple best.)**

"Need a hug?"

"Sure."

My best friend and I tightly hugged. Yeah, Trish at times cursed like a sailor, she was never a person you wanted to piss off, and she could get a little snarky at times, but she always knew when it was time to show off her sweeter, more sympathetic and caring side.

"Come in, have some Sangria and snack with me."

"Have I ever turned down Sangria? FUCK NO."

Unlike me, Trish was a registered nurse at the Pediatrics Associates pediatrician's office. So, she got paid to give shots, prick fingers and take vital signs on babies, kids, teens and anyone up to the age of twenty-one. Her salary was certainly better than mine. Mine was unbelievably and abhorrently shitty. But at least my Starbucks job was a semi-acceptable compensation for that.

I pulled a bottle of Sangria, two wine glasses, some red grapes, salami, cheddar cheese slices and triscuits. I grabbed the bottle opener, opened the bottle and poured Sangria into the glasses.

"How was your day?"

"It was very long, considering my dad just had a heart attack. My day at Kinloch Park was average though. Some of my kids behaved, some of them treated my classroom more like a three-ring circus than a classroom, Even though I did have to raise my voice at my third period class. Things that come out of my mouth on a daily basis are put your phone away, stop texting, stop talking, watch your language. I teach seventh and eighth graders, they should know how to act."

"At least you don't have to deal with tantrums from kids who get shots or have their fingers pricked. But they are fucking adorable nonetheless, and it's kind of fun."

"Yeah, I was just going to say, you shouldn't complain about kids considering you have a toddler daughter."

Trish and Jace had an adorable two-and-a-half-year-old daughter named Isabella (or as we often called her "Bella") and she was one of the cutest kids I had ever met. She was just so full of energy, happy all the time, and she was very sweet. I just loved how she was always calling me "Aunt Ally". Trish took another sip of Sangria and made a sandwich with the salami, cheese and french bread slice, and took a stalk of red grapes. She giggled.

"I do love my kid."

And bit into the sandwich she'd made.

"So what are you doing with those junior high kids?"

I said,

"For the past four weeks, I had my class read _Oliver Twist_ , and I assigned them a paper on the book. I have faith that most of them will do the paper well. But I've said to my class before, it's better to turn in something, than to turn in nothing. Of course, I want them to put time and effort in their papers."

Trish told me,

"Of course you do. If I was a student in your class, I'd kick the asses of the miscreants and also kiss your ass."

I laughed.

"I'd certainly prefer you kissing my ass over how my third period class behaved today. I hate having to raise my voice, but I hate having to give commands more than twice even more, and I hate it when my kids take out their phones in class. It's so rude and linked to cheating. But just because my kids at times are very rude and disrespectful doesn't mean I don't like them. I like them, just not their disruptive behavior."

"You know, I like your teaching style. You're a soft, gentle, almost motherly kind of person, and then you command respect."

I said,

"That's the Ally Dawson dynamic."

She told me,

"Thanks, Ally for the snacks. I gotta run home to Jace and Bella. Again, I'm sorry about what happened to your dad, if you need anyone to talk to, feel free to talk to Jace or I. I'm here, mamacita."

I smiled.

"Thanks, Trish."

I hugged her tightly and she picked up her white and gold chanel purse and headed out.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I decided to skip ahead to the next week to avoid filler. Nobody likes filler)**

So I got a lot of papers on the _Oliver Twist_. I had between twenty-four and thirty kids in my class, seven periods a day. So that meant I had to read the papers (which I didn't mind doing. Reading had always been one of my hobbies, and after all, I was an english teacher) and grade them and add comments. So I had like over one hundred papers to grade- Yipee.

It was going to be a very tedious process for me. On the bright side, Katie had texted me, saying my dad was out of the hospital. But he was still off of work for five weeks. But what I cared about most was that he was alright.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **It's about the reviews. If you guys are going to leave reviews that you want me to update, that's fine, but please, don't say hurtful things to me. Recently, I got a review from a person, I'm not naming names, who called me a "dumbass". It kind of hurt my feelings. Also, the same goes for criticism. It's alright if you want to give me constructive criticism. In fact, I think it's great, it actually helps me improve my writing. But if you don't like my stories, just don't read them. Just don't be hurtful.**

 **But all of that aside, I love all the reviews you guys give me. I strive to please you guys.**


	3. Chapter 3

ALLY:

I had to leave earlier that day for my dentist appointment. I left Kira Starr (or as the students called her, Ms. Starr), a friend of Trish's and mine, and who we went to middle school and high school with in charge of my class. Kira was the guidance counselor at Kinloch Park, and she had been working there as long as me. She had a bachelor's in psychology and it was certainly her calling- she had always been the kind of person who knew how to give advice and comfort you in times of pain.

I was in the waiting room reading _Cosmopolitan_ , because I'd been waiting for the past fifteen minutes. My dentist, Dr. Shawn Field, called my name.

"Dawson, Allison Catalina?"

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I don't know whether Ally's middle name is either Edgar or Willow, but like I'm constantly stating, this is an AU, so Ally's middle name is Catalina)**

I stood up, holding my purse with my things. I sat in the dentist's chair at _A new smile dental center_ and Dr. Field put the heavy apron on me and gave me the bite blocker.

"I'm going to take your x-ray now. Just sit still for the camera."

The camera clicked and he said,

"All done."

He wasn't just my dentist, he also was my friend. I mean, I didn't have a personal relationship with him, (because apparently it was unprofessional of a dentist or doctor to have a personal relationship their patients) he was just really nice to me and interacted with me very well. He took the bite blocker from my mouth, took my apron off and put the blue dental bib with clips around my neck. He took the toothpaste, covered the polisher with it, and asked me,

"How's life?"

I said,

"Not the worst, but pretty hard right now. I have two jobs, the salaries are not the best, but I think I can try to live off of them and my dad just had a heart attack."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is he OK?"

"He is now, but I worry he could have another one, or he could be paralyzed in some way."

"I'm glad he's OK. Open."

I opened my mouth and he cleaned my teeth, rinsed the toothpaste off with the water jet, and put the suction tube in my mouth.

"Time for the mouthwash treatment. Bubblegum or Peppermint?"

"I'd like Peppermint."

I picked up the small paper cup and drank out of it. Peppermint was my favorite flavor.

"All done. You also brush and floss at least twice a day, don't you?"

"Of course."

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get your x-rays."

"OK."

He came back with my x-rays and told me,

"Your teeth, gums and enamels looks good."

I said,

"Thank you, Dr. Field."

"Pleasure's all mine, Ms. Dawson. You have a beautiful smile."

I smiled at him.

"It's all because of you."

I picked up my purse and left. I got in my car to go home and grade my papers. This was going to be a fun process. But the sooner I started, the sooner I'd finish. I just got home and changed into some pajamas- a white see-through racerback tank top that showed my light pink bra (Most of the time, I didn't wear a bra with my pajamas or loungewear, unless if I had a see-through top. I just didn't feel comfortable letting people see my nipples) and hot pink pajama pants with white polka dots and put my phone on my nightstand. I took my contact lenses off and put my glasses on. Most of the time, I wore my contacts to work, occasionally I wore glasses to work, but I wore my glasses at night.

I put all the papers on the coffee table, grabbed a red pen, and went over to the freezer to defrost some Stouffer's macaroni and cheese, frozen broccoli and a glass of water. I felt too tired to cook food, and I also wanted to do as much grading as possible. I just ate my dinner, and I decided to start the tortuous process known as grading papers. Well, I decided I'd grade one class period a day. I taught seven periods a day because I worked from eight-thirty to three, so it would take me about a week to grade everything.

I also decided to listen to some music while grading. Music always made everything more fun. Especially a process as monotonous as grading tests or papers. As much as I hated grading papers, I knew I had to. And I did love being an english teacher. I had discovered my passion for teaching in eighth grade when I was a TA in an english class because I got along so well with the teacher, reading had always been my favorite thing to do and obviously I did well in school. I saw I was getting a Skype call from my mom, who was my biggest inspiration to be a teacher, because she was a teacher.

Except she taught nature studies and she taught undergraduate college students and I taught junior high school students.

"Hi, Mom,"

I said.

"Hi, Ally. I just called to check in on you."

"Well, life's same-old, same-old. But I could have it worse- I could be on the street."

My mom gasped.

"Well, I hope that never happens. I heard about your father, I'm so sorry. "

My parents, despite being split up, still were good friends and cared about each other.

"It's OK, Mom. I'm just glad he survived. And you visited him, right?"

"Of course. Your father and I may be split up, but that doesn't mean I don't care about him."

My mom also got along very well with Katie. They went to high school together and were great friends. She asked me,

"Whatcha got there, Ally?"

"Papers that I have to grade. Lucky me."

"What are they on?"

"I had my class read _Oliver Twist_."

My mom chuckled.

"You were obsessed with that book when you were in High School. You read it… four times?"

I giggled.

"Five!"

I discovered Danny Fonda's paper and it was just one of the most horrendous things I'd seen all day, that I had to burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

I guffawed,

"This paper I'm grading by this troublesome student is just so awful, that it's hilarious! It has less words than I required, single spacing and in fact, I can read it to you right now."

My mom laughed.

"I'd love to hear it."

"I didn't read _Oliver Twist_ because I didn't give enough of an F (Yes, he dropped the actual F bomb, but I didn't feel comfortable saying any curse word stronger than "shit" or "dick", and the same went for homophobic, sexist or ableist slurs that I definitely will not repeat) to read it. Reading sucks fifty, hard, herpes infected, hippopotamus dicks. I would rather have a rhinoceros on cocaine stomp on my balls and than die a slow painful death than read that stupid crap. I honestly don't give a damn if I fail my this f-ing class, I just don't want to read a fagtarded book. Ms. Dawson has too many tampons stuck in her pussy and can go suck dicks of drunk f-gots for all the shits I give."

My mom gasped as if she'd just heard a rape joke. My mom, shortly after she'd divorced my dad, was raped by a schizophrenic man and she hated rape jokes. I hated them too, because they were mean-spirited and just plain awful.

"He sounds like a miscreant."

"You have no idea. I have a very adversarial relationship with him. His grade right now isn't looking so promising- he completely disregards homework and schoolwork, has the mouth of a _South Park_ character and uses his phone in class. If it's one thing I hate, it's when my students are rude and disrespectful to me."

My mom said,

"That's why I have my students turn in their electronic devices before class."

I wrote on Danny's paper a big F in a red marker, and my comment said,

"Unacceptable. See me after class."

My mom said,

"Well, I just called to check in on you, sweetheart. I don't want to keep you from your grading."

"That's OK, Mom. I'll talk to you another time."

"Bye, sweetie. I love you from my heart."

"Bye, I love you too, Mom. We should have some mother-daughter time soon."

"I love the sound of that."

She hung up. Ugh, I felt my energy dropping. I needed something sweet. Fortunately, there was a Starbucks across the street. I just slipped on a pink hoodie and white bobs and opened the door. Walking down the hall, I saw the most recent tenant who'd just moved in a few days ago.

I'd definitely seen him before, but I didn't know his name. He looked a bit different than he did last time. He had longer hair when I first saw him, but it was shorter now. I decided to be friendly to him because he seemed nice enough.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ally finally meets Austin! I wonder if they're going to hit it off ;). Stay tuned if you like the story!)**


	4. Chapter 4

ALLY:

I had certainly seen this attractive guy before, because I recognized his surfer blonde hair (that at first went up to his neck, but now was a sort of a sleek, male-model, and slicked back hairstyle. I liked his long hair, but I liked his short hair even better. The top was slicked back, the sides were shorter and the back went no further than the bottom of his neck), his piercing brown eyes and his sexy buff arms. He was dressed in a green sleeveless hoodie, a blue sleeveless shirt, dark wash ripped jeans and green Nike high tops.

"Hi,"

I smiled at him.

"Hey,"

he smiled back. His smile and his adorable brown puppy eyes seemed to underscore his new haircut. Which not only looked great on him, but smelled like a mixture of vanilla and a fresh summer breeze. He reached out his hand.

"I'm Austin. I'm a new tenant. My apartment's right here."

He pointed to the door that was literally right across the hall from my apartment.

"I'm Ally. I've lived here for four years."

I just giggled. I gripped his hand tightly and shook it. I decided to break the ice just a little bit.

"Did you get your hair cut recently?"

I asked him.

Austin grinned.

"Thanks for noticing! Yes, I just came home from getting my hair cut. I hadn't cut it in almost two years. Isn't that crazy?"

"Hell yeah!"

He said,

"In fact, shit, I hadn't even gotten a trim in over a year, and I decided it was time to cut it again."

I just grinned and asked him,

"Who is this miracle worker that just gave you this amazing haircut, that for the record, not only looks amazing, but smells really nice, too."

He smiled.

"Thank you, and my hairdresser is Liz at Supercuts. Supercuts works well for me because you don't need an appointment, you can just walk in, you can get a great haircut and wash for only twenty bucks, admittedly with the shampoo it costs a little bit more but it's still a great price, and with it you can get a complimentary neck and back massage and hot towel. To answer your first question, Liz suggested that I go shorter, yet fuller on the sides and in the back, and layer it on top and so I took her advice."

"It turned out great. What about the scent?"

"She put hairspray in it that she said smelled good, was gentle on the hair and kept it in place. Do you wanna see some pictures?"

"I'd love to see them."

He took out his gold iPhone 6S with a with a green case that looked like a more cartoon closeup of Mike, the green monster from _Monster's Inc_. He told me,

"I brought my buddy Dez along to take pictures, because he's an aspiring photographer and video director. He took the video and pictures on his phone and texted them all to me."

The first picture was a snapchat of him sitting in the stylist's chair wearing the black cape with the Supercuts logo, the white strip was around his neck and he had a white towel around his shoulders and he was smiling. The caption read,

"It's time"

And it had the emoji with the girl getting a haircut, a scissors emoji and a blue, white and red pole and a woman with light brown Kim Kardashian hair and beachy blonde streaks and in a hairdresser outfit rubbing his scalp. The second one had him laying in the washing station. The third one had him looking straight into the mirror and she had the bottom of the back between her fingers and she was cutting it with the scissors. In the fourth picture, she was trimming his hair again on the left side and she had a feather razor and a comb in her hand. In the fifth picture, she was trimming the other side with the scissors and she was using the comb as a guide.

In the sixth picture, Liz was using the feather razor and the comb in the back. In the seventh picture, she was cutting more off with the scissors. In the eighth picture, she was spraying it with hairspray. We came across a video. He laughed and told me,

"Here's a video."

The video started with Liz applying hairspray to Austin's hair and running a comb through through it while he was just sitting in the chair staring straight ahead. In the background I could faintly hear some catwalk music.

"The pomade that I'm using gives the hair that shiny look without drying it out. The hairspray gives it hold and maintains the body in the hair and is still gentle on it."

He was saying,

"I like body in my hair. Keeps it healthy. And the hairspray smells really good, Liz. What kind is it?"

"It's vanilla. And it'll wash out the next time you wash your hair."

I saw her put the can and the comb down on the counter and she asked him,

"You ready to see your hair?"

Some guy was whispering,

"One, two, three,"

Austin was saying,

"I'm ready."

She picked up a small circular plastic hand mirror. He was grinning his adorable grin and he was saying,

"Oh my god! I love it!"

Liz was saying,

"You're going to be fighting off the girls with a stick."

He smiled at her,

"It's all in you, Liz."

Liz smiled as she was applying a hot towel to Austin's neck.

"You should come in for a trim more often. And not just to keep your hair healthy, but because I like seeing you. Trust me, I say that to all my clients."

Austin chuckled.

"I should, shouldn't I?"

The boy with red hair holding Austin's phone, who I was going to guess was his friend, was saying,

"It's so fluffy and beautiful."

The video ended. I don't know why, but I had a feeling that Austin's friend Dez was gay.

"Austin, just out of curiosity, is your friend Dez gay?"

"He gets that a lot, but he _is_ straight. He lives with his girlfriend Carrie ."

The ninth picture had all of his fallen hair on the ground with a snapchat that said,

"That was my hair."

And it had four laughing emojis. The tenth one had a before and after picture. The eleventh was yet another video. Dez was saying,

"Here's Austin after getting his hair cut. How do you feel, buddy?"

I said,

"I feel great. My hair feels so healthy."

"You're going to have girls crowding around you forever. You smell nice, too."

"Thanks, bud."

The video ended.

"Well, your new haircut makes you look totally sexy."

He smiled.

"Thanks, Ally. You're really gorgeous, too."

He picked up my hand and kissed it. That made me blush.

"Thank you. Um, listen I was on my way to Peet's, because I kind of need something sweet, you want to join?"

"Sounds great."

He followed me to the elevator.

"So tell me a little about yourself, Ally. What do you do for a living?"

I said,

"I work two jobs- one of them is that I'm an english teacher at Kinloch Park middle school and the the other is that I work at Starbucks, because my salary as a teacher is terrible."

"Hmmm, admirable. Wait, you teach at Kinloch Park Middle School?"

"Yeah, I've been teaching there for three years."

"Do you know Cadence Moon?"

Cadence Moon! I remembered her fondly. I had met her when she was in the seventh grade and I honestly couldn't help but love her to death. I smiled.

"Yes, I remember Cadence Moon fondly. I was her english teacher when she was in seventh grade. She was very sweet and just this little ball of sunshine."

"She's my little sister!"

"No kidding! If I love your sister, I know for a fact I'm going to love you. What about you, Austin? What do you do for a living?"

Austin said,

"I work as a correctional officer at the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department. So I spend five days a week with eleven to eighteen year olds who are on probation for cutting school, running away, drinking, using drugs, you know."

I smiled.

"We've known each other for not even five minutes and it already seems like we have something in common. We both work with kids all day. Except I'm sure your salary is better than mine."

I giggled. He said,

"When I started at Community College, I majored in law. I just always was into the justice and law system, well mainly because my dad is a lawyer."

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know Austin's parents really are mattress vendors on the show, but I decided to make them have separate careers.)**

"You saw inspiration in your parent for your career, too? I saw inspiration to be a teacher in my mom!"

"What does your mom teach?"

"She's a doctor in wildlife biology and also teaches undergrad students at University of Miami."

He pulled out his phone, showing me a photo of him with an older man that looked a lot like him (except he had a buzz cut), a pretty girl with dark brown big fluffy curls and Cadence was with them.

"That's me with my brother and sister a few months ago at my brother's wedding the Coral Gables Renaissance knight club. My brother Randy is on the left, that's his wife Alanna, and that's my sister Cadence, also your former student."

I giggled.

"She looks beautiful. How old is she now?"

"She's sixteen now. I'm twenty-five and Randy is twenty-eight."

We held hands as we walked to Peet's together.

"Your hands are as soft as a baby's ass."

"Thanks."

I ordered a coffee with half and half and sweeteners and a chocolate croissant and he got a grande black coffee.

I said,

"I need all the energy I can get right now."

He asked me,

"What for?"

I gave him a look of smartassery.

"I'm a teacher. I recently had my students read and write a paper on _Oliver Twist_ and I have to grade papers on it. I teach seven classes a day, between twenty-four and thirty students. Lucky me."

He asked me,

"How many have you graded so far?"

I said,

"Six of them, so far. The first one, I had to give an F because not only did he curse in his paper and even write one of the most egregious things I've ever seen, but he also stated that he didn't read the book because he didn't care about it. I've gotta show it to you."

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I really think Ally and her new neighbor Austin are hitting it off :). I wonder when he's going to ask her out ;). I really appreciate all the reviews, I love to hear what you guys think. Whether it be constructive criticism or the accolades y'all have been showering it with so far. Just remember, I strive to make you guys happy.**


	5. Chapter 5

ALLY:

Austin took a sip of his black coffee and asked me,

"How bad was it?"

"I'll show it to you."

My new neighbor was staring at me with clear-cut (Pun undoubtedly intended. Get it, clear-cut meant obvious, and he had a great haircut.) admiration and affection. I was starting to like him, not just for that totally alluring beachy blonde quiff hairstyle, but because he was generally a sweet, friendly guy. I reached into my purse with all the papers I had to grade and I found the one that Danny wrote and I pulled it out.

"Read it and you'll find out how bad it is."

He whispered loudly,

"And I quote, I didn't read _Oliver Twist_ because I didn't give enough of a fuck to read it. Reading sucks fifty hard, herpes infested hippopotamus dicks. I would rather have a rhinoceros on cocaine stomp on my balls and die a slow painful death than read that stupid crap. I honestly don't give a damn if I fail this fucking class, I just don't want to read an f-gotarded book."

He turned to me.

"Are you sure you want me to read the last part? It's just so sexist and degrading to women."

I laughed.

"While I find the last part really demeaning, I have to admit, it kind of made me laugh it was so offensive."

Austin studied the paper as if it were a threatening note.

"Who's the little fucker who wrote this?"

I said,

"This eighth grader who's in my seventh period in class. I had him last year and I didn't get along with him at all, and I don't get along with him now."

Austin took another sip of his coffee.

"I can see why."

"He doesn't respect me, in fact, hell, I have a bunch of kids who are rude and disrespectful to me. They sleep, talk, text, curse, use their phones and chew gum in glass. Well, the gum chewing, I'm a little bit more lenient about as long as I don't see it, and that includes blowing bubbles in my classroom. Because, it drives me crazy when people chew and you can see what they're chewing."

"How do you deal with it?"

I said,

"Well, the school consequences are a verbal reminder, then a warning, then I send them to the principal's office, I either call or email parents, and then I give detention. If a student gets three detentions in a month, they get suspended."

"Wow, you're strict."

I took a sip of my coffee.

"I am. I kind of have to be if I'm a teacher, especially with kids who are making the transition from middle school to high school. I love my job, but at times it can be all the gray hairs that I'm getting."

Austin smiled.

"I don't see any gray hairs, just gorgeous light brown soft curls complemented by subtle yet beautiful blonde highlights."

I giggled. Austin was so cute and funny.

"Aww, you're really sweet."

"Do you dye your hair?"

I said,

"I got highlights about five years ago, and then I got them four more times, but my hairdresser said it was bad for my hair to keep dying it, so I stopped because it was so damaging, and we live in Miami so I guess I got natural ones."

He said,

"Well, you're beautiful in my eyes."

"Aww, thank you. Why don't you tell me about your job as a correctional officer for kids in juvie?"

Austin giggled.

"Well, occasionally we get a new inmate, and the inmates have to tell their name, their age and why they're being detained. I work with kids who steal, run from home, do drugs, drink and commit acts of violence."

I asked him,

"What's the most stressful part of your job?"

"Sometimes they take it out on each other or on me at times. But we're not just punishing the kids, we're trying to help them. Even if they can be mentally unstable or have dangerous substance addiction."

"Do they have back stories?"

Austin took another sip of his black coffee.

"Yeah. A lot of them are foster kids, or kids who have just grown up in dysfunctional homes, which is kinda understandable, but still, that doesn't give them the right to commit crimes."

"Just because my life is kind of hard doesn't mean I would ever commit crimes."

He asked me,

"What do you mean?"

I said,

"I'm single, I have two jobs, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place in terms of finances right now and my father was recently hospitalized for a heart attack."

Austin told me,

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is he OK?"

I said,

"Yeah, he's fine. His wife told me he was doing much better, but I still worry for his safety. Because heart attacks can paralyze people or even kill them."

He said,

"If you need anyone to talk to, I'm an open door. Literally and metaphorically. Can I get your number by the way?"

I smiled.

"Thanks. If I can have yours!"

He sniggered at me.

"I can agree to that."

I handed him my phone and he handed me his. I punched my number into his phone and he punched his number into mine.

"Can I take your caller ID? I wanna see your gorgeous face every time you call me."

I blushed.

"OK."

I smiled and he took a photo of me.

"Beautiful."

"Can I take your caller ID picture? I wanna see your sexy face every time you call me."

"Sure."

He smiled. He was definitely one of the most gorgeous men I'd ever seen. In the photo, he was grinning. I felt like I was a photographer documenting a picture of a handsome male model. We left Peet's and we held hands while walking together and him holding my hand with his baby soft hands made me tingle.

"I had a great time with you,"

I said. He smiled at me and kissed my hand.

"Me too. We should hang out again sometime."

I just sat down to do more of the tediousness known as grading papers. I turned more iTunes on and started to grade more. Good news was, I wasn't giving many Ds or Fs, a fair amount of Bs and Cs, and mostly I was giving As. I really liked my new neighbor Austin Moon. Well, I had just met him, and I already could feel the attraction to him blossoming like a flower in the spring.

What wasn't there to like in him? He was generally nice, driven, caring and he was super hot. He also had a good job. To be fair, you didn't need a college degree or even a bachelor's degree to be a correctional officer, but I admired how he used his bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and not just a regular high school diploma. The day he asked me,

"Ally, will you go out with me?"

would be the seven most beautiful words. I felt my phone ding- I got a friend request on Facebook from Austin Moon. He was a mutual friend of Cadence Moon and Trish, and her boyfriend Jace, who I was friends with. Yup, it was the Austin Moon, my new neighbor who'd I just gotten to know. I immediately recognized his profile picture- he had that new haircut and he was still sitting in the chair with the Supercuts cape and white neck stripe on (in fact it was the after picture of the before and after picture he'd shown me), and on the counter were the scissors, a comb, the feather razor, the spray bottle and the can of hairspray and the hair dryer, and he was smiling, showing his porcelain teeth and I could see his hairstylist's hands on his shoulders.

After confirming his request, I looked at his cover photo. His cover photo was a picture of him with his whole family in an old picture from about a decade ago- they were on top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco, and from left to right were his mom, him (he was about fourteen at the time), his brother, who was about seventeen at the time, his dad and his sister, who was about five at the time. I loved (yes, she did the reaction love) his profile picture and his cover picture. My profile picture was just me wearing my glasses and doing a thumbs up and my cover photo was a photo of a peaceful background. He liked my profile picture.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Wow, it seems like Austin & Ally like each other! I wonder when they're going to tell each other that they like each other. Stay tuned!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hello everyone! I decided to make Austin's POV because I wanted you to get to know Austin and plus, I wrote five chapters from Ally's perspective. Ally is the protagonist of the story, but Austin also plays a big role in her life because he is her new neighbor. On a completely unrelated note, I've just started my new internship and I'm already having an awesome time! I want to go into the healthcare field when I'm out of high school, and so I'm doing a healthcare internship for the next five weeks. EEP I'm so excited! Don't worry, I won't be too busy, I'll still be updating as frequently as I can.**

 **Also, I feel like I kind of have to reiterate the talk I gave you all about reviews. That one person just insulted me. As they say in the old times,**

" **If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."**

 **I don't care if you cuss in your reviews, as I'm not offended by cursing, and I utter profanity in much of my stories (if that bothers you, you don't have to read it) so if I was telling you not to curse even though I curse, that would be hypocrisy, and nobody likes a hypocrite. but I am offended by rude comments. Because what you say can actually hurt someone, even if you can't see it. I have to repeat, if you don't have anything nice to say (Constructive criticism doesn't apply to this), don't say anything at all. Because just one little spiteful comment can spread like a bad case of chickenpox.**

 **OK, I'll shut up now and get on with the chapter.**

AUSTIN:

I had work today (My hours were from nine to four thirty, Monday through Friday). I liked my job as a juvenile corrections officer. I mean, I wasn't like SpongeBob when he went to work at the Krusty Krab, but it was still a good job. I discovered my passion was criminal justice because my dad was a lawyer and he had been for over twenty-five years and a few of my favorite TV shows were _NCIS_ , _Law & Order Special Victims Unit_, and _CSI_. Not to toot my own horn, but my family was kind of wealthy.

Obviously, my dad was a lawyer and my mom was a dermatologist.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this story, Mike and Mimi have separate careers instead of owning a mattress store. Don't get me wrong, I loved the concept of them having a mattress store, but I like to experiment with them having other careers a little bit)**

My brother Randy was in the Marine Corp because he had always been like the _GI Joe_ kind of guy. Every year for christmas, he'd ask for like toy soldiers or anything related to the army, and after graduating from high school ten years ago, he wanted to join the army. As for my sister Cadence, she loved art, she loved to make and watch videos on YouTube, and she told me she wanted to be an animator when she grew up. In my mind, I was thinking about Ally Dawson- my new neighbor. I saw nothing but admiration and perfection in her.

She was very nice, very smart, candid, warm, friendly and she seemed to be as strong as a rock in spite of all the shit she was going through right now- she had two jobs (one of them with a deplorable salary and kids who treated her like a doormat but in spite of that, she liked her job as an english teacher), her dad checked out of the hospital after having a heart attack and her financial state was pretty bad. Not that I cared about this any more than who she was as a person, I wasn't a shallow, misogynistic douchebag, but she was also really beautiful. One of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. I hadn't had a girlfriend in the past five years- my last girlfriend was this girl named Brooke Carter.

But I broke up with her after nine months because she earned money by working as a prostitute and selling marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Of course at the time, I didn't know she was a streetwalker, I just wondered why she dressed provocatively and often came home with lots of money. Also, she went to a mental asylum for being addicted to drugs and alcohol, and when she got out, she was really passive-aggressive, delusional and psychotic, and a person who worked at the funny farm she checked into told me that she wasn't emotionally stable and that I should get a restraining order. Which I did. I had been on a few dates with girls, but I had just thought about staying just friends with them.

I had definitely enjoyed the single life, but now I knew I wanted a relationship with Ally. But I needed to know more about her before I was in a relationship with her. But I didn't want to be like those creepy stalkers. I just would give her hints that I wanted a relationship with her- gifts like scented candles, flowers, jewelry, wine, etcetera. I got to work, parked my car in the parking lot and walked into the juvie center.

The head of the Miami-Dade Juvenile Services Department, Doug Galloway, saw me.

"Hey, Austin."

"Hey, Doug, what's up?"

"Just thought it would be pertinent for you to know that we have a new inmate today. Her name is Callie Armstrong, she's sixteen, and she's in for stealing and cutting school to drink."

"That's not good. I should tell the inmates to meet in 104."

I said over the PA,

"All inmates to room 104, we have a new inmate today."

I was standing outside 104, where a girl was standing. She had melancholy look on her face and a brown shoulder long haircut, she had glassy brown eyes and she was very lanky, and she looked about five foot six.

"Hi, you must be Callie. I'm Austin Moon, I'm your probation officer."

She just looked at me, and muttered,

"Hi, I'm Callie. What's my punishment?"

I said,

"Callie, this may be juvie, but we try to help teens like you make better choices. Now come sit down in the circle and meet your fellow inmates."

Whenever we got a new inmate, we had to have the group reintroduce themselves. Counting Callie, we now had twelve inmates. The twelve kids, six girls (with Callie), and six boys. I said,

"This is Callie, she's new to our group. I want you all to say your name, age, why you're here and a brief summary of your back story. Callie, why don't you start, since you're new?"

She sighed.

"OK, whatever. I'm Callie Armstrong, I'm fifteen, I'm here for drinking, cutting school and stealing. Why I'm doing these are because my dad took his life when I was seven, and my mom's boyfriend is an asshole to me behind her back. Plus my mom doesn't care about me, it feels like."

I said,

"Thanks for sharing. Which way do you want to pass it?"

She pointed to the left and she pointed to an african american boy named Jamie Russell.

"My name is Jamie Russell, I'm seventeen, I'm here for gangs, drugs, drinking and armed robbery. My backstory is that my mom was killed in a car accident when I was four and my dad was arrested for drunk driving. I've been in a lot of foster homes."

Then there was a latina girl named Gabriela (she went by Gaby) Valdez.

"My name is Gaby Valdez, I'm seventeen, I'm here for prostitution, drinking, drugs and stealing. I was bullied a lot during my childhood and I had little friends, my papi left me when I was five and my mami doesn't pay that much attention to me- just her boyfriend, and he raped me."

Then there was an african american girl named Brenda Whitman.

"My name is Brenda Whitman, I'm sixteen, I'm in for defacing property, armed robbery, gangs, drugs and streetwalking. My mom has schizophrenia and bipolar depression, she's in a mental institution because she tried to commit suicide, and my dad is in jail for arson and using heroin."

Then there was a white boy named Nate Jacobs.

"My name is Nate Jacobs, I'm eighteen, I'm in for gangs and using cocaine. I was bullied as a kid and my dad cheated on my mom with a high school girl."

There was a white girl named Samantha (she went by "Sammi") Levine.

"I'm Sammi Levine, I'm sixteen, I'm in for sexting and prostitution. What can I say, I have a hot ass!"

I said,

"Thanks, Sammi. That'll do."

There was a white boy named Johnny Paxton.

"I'm Johnny Paxton, I'm seventeen, I'm in for catfishing, bullying, drinking and cutting school. I was bullied by my peers, my dad was an asshole who treated my mom like shit, and my mom has depression and is in the hospital because she tried to kill herself."

There was filipina girl named Maria De Leon.

"I'm Maria De Leon, I'm eighteen, I'm in for stealing, sexting, drinking and smoking weed. I was raped four times as a kid by my dad and I was bullied as a kid, too. It fucking sucks gonorrhea dicks."

There was a latino guy named Enrique Suarez (Hey, like Betty's surname on _Ugly Betty_ ).

"I'm Enrique Suarez, I'm eighteen, I'm in for gangs, drugs, drinking and defacing property. My dad was a dickhead to my mom and to me, my mom hanged herself, I've been in six foster homes in the past ten years, and I had sex with my foster sister a few months ago."

There was a white boy named Josh McCarthy.

"I'm Josh McCarthy, I'm sixteen, I'm in for smoking pot, armed robbery, bullying, rape and gang violence. I was bullied and molested as a kid."

There was a white girl named Tammy Spelling.

"I'm Tammy Spelling, I'm sixteen, I'm in for prostitution and drugs, my dad committed suicide when I was four, my mom is an alcoholic and a drug addict and she's in jail, and I've been in ten foster homes since I was five."

There was a white boy named Mikey Thompson.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, Mikey from** _ **Bad Seeds & Bad Dates**_ **. The kid who called Ally a fart bucket? He was more like Satan's child than Joanna's child.)**

"I'm Mikey, I'm sixteen, I'm in for drugs, drinking, graffiti, stalking and sexual harassment. My dad left me when I was a baby and my mom's boyfriend is a pedophile and he raped me."

I said,

"OK, everyone, thank you for sharing. Now put on your orange vests and go to the freeway to pick up garbage."

Everyone lined up, one by one, and put on an orange vest. Gaby was at the back line and a bright smile spread on her face.

"Someone cut his hair. Me gusta."

"Thanks, Gaby."

She unzipped her layer, revealing her tank top, with her D-cup cleavage, and made kissing noises at me.

"Makes you look muy sexy. Why don't we hook up later?"

I was aware of Gaby's crush on me. I didn't think it was appropriate at all. I said,

"Gaby, isn't prostitution one of the things that got you in here? Now put your vest on."

The latina begrudgingly put her vest on and followed the other kids outside to pick up garbage.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Wow, Austin works with lots of troubled kids. But like he said, juvie is there to help kids, not just punish them for what they've done wrong. Don't be afraid to leave reviews, favorite or follow the story! Peace, love, hugs and kisses!**


	7. Chapter 7

ALLY:

It was monday again at Kinloch Park. At least it was my lunch break now. I just grabbed my container of chicken ceasar salad and sat in the teacher's lounge. Kira was sitting there with a subway sandwich, and I could see she was waiting for me. She put her sandwich down on the paper towel, and tied her mid neck long bob in a high ponytail. I said,

"Hey, Kira, thanks for watching my class on Friday."

"You're welcome. How have you been doing?"

"Better. My dad's out of the hospital, but I worry he could hurt himself again. But Katie has been taking good care of him."

Kira took a bite of her sandwich and chewed and swallowed it. She said,

"Well, Ally, if you need anyone to talk to, I'm always an open door. I'm not just the school counselor for the kids here."

Like I said, being a counselor had been Kira's calling. She always was the kind of person who wanted to help others and make you feel better. Besides Trish, she was practically my best friend. The three of us hung out together all the time in middle school and high school. That was how long Trish and I had known her- ever since the sixth grade.

"Thanks, Kira. But one good thing has happened to me in the past week."

"What is it?"

"I got a new neighbor. He's not at all like how my old neighbors were."

My old neighbors were these three guys named Nick Ramirez, Stephen Billman and Dustin Savea. I didn't like them because they were obnoxious and a bunch of idiots. Most of the time when I saw them they were either high on weed, ecstasy or LSD, or they were drunk, they would throw wild parties and they would bring home prostitutes every night. They got kicked out because of their annoying partying and pot smoking. Everytime I asked them to turn their music down, they would say,

"Fuck no bitch partying is life! Don't get your bikini in a twist!"

Asshats.

"I remember them. I didn't like them either."

"They were just about the most obnoxious people I'd ever met. But this new neighbor, I like much better. He's really sweet and funny, he's not a drunk, he doesn't do drugs and he's really cute, too."

Kira asked me,

"Is Ally in love?"

"I think I am. I really like this guy."

"What's his name?"

"His name's Austin."

I showed her Austin's facebook page from my phone. Yes it was his facebook page with his profile picture- the one with him at Supercuts after getting his hair cut. Kira cooed,

"Ooh. He's very attractive. That haircut's a good look for him."

I said,

"I know, right? He's friends with Trish's boyfriend."

"He's friends with Jace?"

"Yup. I know from his Facebook profile. In fact, not only is he friends with Jace, but guess who's his sister?"

Kira grinned her smile.

"Who?"

I asked,

"You remember Cadence Moon?"

Kira laughed.

"How could I forget Cadence Moon? She was the sweetest thing I'd ever met, always happy and always so snuggly and huggable!"

"Cadence Moon is his sister!"

"You're kidding!"

"I'm not kidding! Cadence is his sister!"

I took another bite of my salad and asked,

"So, what happened with you, today?"

Kira said,

"Well, today, I got a visit from Danny Fonda. His grades are some of the worst I've seen all year."

I said,

"Oh I have a rather adversarial relationship with him. Not only is he failing my class, but he is constantly causing mayhem in my class. I had my class write papers on _Oliver Twist_ , and he wrote some of the most despicable things I'd ever seen."

"Did you fail him?"

"Yes. He's in eighth grade, he should know better than to say in an academic paper that I should have oral sex with alcoholic men."

"That belongs more on the resume of a person who wants to work at Good Vibrations than a middle school paper."

I said,

"Fortunately I saw not many bad eggs in terms of papers. But still, grading was the highlight of my weekend. The tedious highlight."

"Yeah you look tired as hell."

Fortunately after work, when I went to check my mailbox, I saw a Victoria's Secret gift card for one hundred dollars and a candle that smelled like cotton candy. Who would have sent me these gifts? I put them in my bag and left for Starbucks, so I could compensate for my unfathomable teacher's salary.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hmmm, I wonder who left Ally those nice gifts…. Austin perhaps? We'll find out ;). OK, this next part is in Austin's POV.**

AUSTIN:

I was just in my office. I was analyzing some of the inmate's folders when I heard a knock at the door. I said,

"Come in."

It was Callie. She looked even more sad than she did when I first met her.

"Austin?"

She said to me in a quiet voice.

I asked,

"What's wrong, Callie, are you OK?"

"I… I was picking up trash earlier when I saw Jamie smoking pot. I told him, we're not allowed to have pot here, we're supposed to be picking up trash, and Jamie told me called me the C word and told me if I told anyone he'd rape me in my sleep."

"I'm sorry, Callie. I'll talk with him, OK?"

"OK."

She left. This wasn't the first time the inmates had done bad things when they were already on probation. They bullied other inmates or even drank and smoked on the juvie campus. I often was in charge of doing the breathalyzer test. I called on the PA,

"Jamie Russell to my office. Jamie Russell to my office."

I just took a breathalyzer from one of my desk drawers. Jamie came to my office, nonchalantly. As if he didn't do anything at all. I asked him,

"Do you know why I called you in here?"

He was probably under the influence of marijuana because I could smell it on him. He had eyes that were watering (he wasn't crying though) and then he just burst out laughing. He sounded like modern SpongeBob on stereoids and marijuana.

"It's not funny what you did."

"What's not funny?"

"The fact that you made a rape threat to Callie. We have zero tolerance for bullying here. I want you to tell Callie you're sorry."

Jamie said,

"OK, fine. But it's not my fault the bitch's a fucking tattletale."

"If I hear anything like this again, I'm calling your probation officer and I'm suspending your priveliges. Is that understood?"

I had the number of every inmate's probation officer and I had to call them if they did bad things. His eyes were aimlessly trailing the room as if he had been doing LSD.

"Eyes! Is that understood?"

He said,

"Yeah."

"Good. Now go tell Callie you're sorry, and go finish picking up garbage from the freeway."

 **So what did you guys think of this chapter? What would you guys like to see happen in the next one? I'm open to suggestions; I always take those into account. I strive to make you all happy!**


	8. Chapter 8

ALLY:

I was at Starbucks making a customer an iced coffee and I handed them their drink. I felt my one of my coworkers, Terra Miller, accidentally bump into me.

"Sorry, Ally,"

she said to me,

"I didn't see you."

I said,

"Oh it's all good, Terra. Don't worry about it."

Terra said,

"Well, it seems like someone's in a good mood today."

I said,

"Yes, I am. I have a new neighbor, who I really, really like, and today, I guess I kind of got rewarded for the mind numbing episode of grading papers all weekend because someone left me a Victoria's Secret gift card for a hundred bucks and a scented candle."

"Sounds super boyfriend-y if you ask me."

I said,

"I know. I don't know who gave me such nice gifts."

Terra giggled.

"Maybe it was that new neighbor."

"It could be, I don't know. But I wish I knew who it was so I could thank them."

Just then, I heard my boss, Diana, scream in her southern dialect,

"FUCK YEAH! I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE! I'LL BE AUNTIE DIANA BITCHES!"

I walked into her office and asked,

"What's going on, Diana?"

She seemed very happy.

"My baby sister is a-having babies! I can't believe it! IT'S JUST FUCKING PEACHY KEEN!"

"Niece or nephew?"

"Both in one fell swoop. MY SISTER'S HAVING TWINS!"

I said,

"Congrats!"

She said,

"Thanks! You and them other employees, y'all can skidaddle on back home so I can seem my people, my mama, my daddy, then nusses and them doctors at hospital!"

"Are you sure?"

"That, and we haven't had that many customers today."

I said,

"OK then."

I got back home to my apartment and looked through my mailbox to find a gift card to for fifty dollars. Who was leaving me all these gifts? Whoever was doing it must really like me. I put the card in my bag with my Victoria's Secret card and the cotton candy scented candle and I felt a tap on my back- it was Austin. He grinned at me and said to me,

"Hey, gorgeous!"

I said,

"Hi!"

I embraced him tightly and he embraced me back. He gave the warmest hugs I'd ever had. He folded some of my hair, that I had just let down from a ponytail (when I was at Starbucks, I had to wear my hair up to avoid getting food in it), behind my ear and was staring at my face with crystal clear deep infatuation. His hands were as soft as a baby's ass. Just wondering, would a guy who used moisturizer be considered gay?

I had nothing whatsoever against homosexuals in anyway, it was just one thing I was curious about. He asked me,

"So, what happened at work today?"

I said,

"Well, over the weekend, I graded all my papers within three days, even though it was a very mundane ordeal, and I had to make Danny Fonda, the seventh grader who wrote such an egregious paper that admitted that he didn't even give a rat's ass about the book or if he failed my class and said-"

I whispered,

"I had too many tampons stuck in my lady area and I could suck the dicks of drunk maggots for all the shits he gave."

Maggot was a euphemism for what he was really saying. I didn't use the F word, or any racist, sexist, ableist (you know, like the R word. I had actually taught a few kids with Autism, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Dyslexia and even Down's Syndrome. I actually had a dyslexic eighth grader in my second period. And she was on the honor role. Whenever she wrote a paper or did her homework, it was like that scene in _A Christmas Story_ where Ralphie had his fantasy after writing his theme about wanting a red ryder bebe gun for christmas and his teacher Ms. Shields acclaimed his theme) or homophobic slurs. I brought my voice up again.

"I had to make him stay after class. And it was pretty obvious he really didn't care about the paper at all. He's also in eighth grade, so this is unacceptable for him."

"He should know better than to write papers like that. My inmates have followed rules more than him, well most of them."

"With him, things go in one ear and out the other. What happened with you at that juvie center?"

Austin said,

"Well, one of the inmates was smoking pot when he was supposed to be picking up garbage, and our new inmate, she noticed him smoking the joint, and she told him that it was against the rules and he made a rape threat to her."

I gasped.

"That's horrible! Please don't tell me he got away with it!"

Austin said,

"Oh he's not getting away with it. I suspended his privileges for two weeks, and I told him that if he did anything like that again, I'd call his parole officer. We have to do that when the inmates drink, use drugs or bully other inmates."

I asked,

"Do you like your job?"

He giggled.

"Well, at times, the detainees can get a little uncontrolable, but all Doug, who's my boss, and I want to do is not just punish them, but also help them re-establish the difference between right and wrong. Yes, I do like my job."

I said,

"I'm glad you do something you like. Just like I like teaching, despite my students' rudeness and disrespect."

Austin smiled.

"I think that it's important to do something that you love. Hey, are you busy right now?"

I felt that tingly feeling in my gut as he put his baby-soft hand on my hand.

"No. My hours at Starbucks were cut short today because my boss went to go see her sister in the hospital who is having babies."

"Do you want to come over for some wine and dinner?"

At that moment, fireworks went off in me. It was like the scene in the _Lizzie McGuire_ Valentine's Day special where Ronnie, Lizzie's crush, told her that he told some of the kids at his school that she was his girlfriend. _Lizzie McGuire_ was one of my favorite childhood shows. A big smile spread across my face.

"I would love that."

He mocked a british accent which was really attractive.

"Then come along, m'lady."

And then he kissed my hand and it gave me a bubbling feeling. It felt weird to know someone was in love with me…. And I kind of liked it.

 **Ooh, Austin finally made a move! I think Ally's going to find out who gave her those very sweet and romantic gifts soon *smirks*. I think by the end of the book, they're going to be head over heels in love :) Not even I know what's going to be on the rollercoaster that leads to them being so in love, and I'm writing it, but it will end with some major Auslly!**


	9. Chapter 9

ALLY:

Austin opened the door to his apartment and held the door open for me. I just loved men who thought of women first. He closed the door behind me and went to his fridge. He pulled out two bottles of wine.

"White or red?"

I said,

"I like red. Good for my heart."

"But your heart's already good!"

I smiled.

"You're cute!"

He giggled.

"Thank you. What kind of cuisine do you want?"

I said,

"I've been kind of craving Panda Express lately."

"I like Panda Express."

"What would you like from Panda Express?"

"Orange chicken and mixed veggies, please."

He said,

"OK."

I saw him take out his phone and say,

"Hey, can I get some orange chicken with a side of mixed vegetables and some broccoli beef and mixed veggies? Thanks."

He picked up the remote that apparently lead to a stereo and it started playing the song _Rocket Man_ by Elton John and he put his arm around me. I liked the way this was feeling. I just nuzzled into his well-built shoulder and felt like I was laying on a pillow. I was listening to his heartbeat and it was beating and made such a beautiful sound. I was just staring aimlessly at the pictures on his wall- one of them I was having trouble keeping a straight face at.

In it he looked like about no older than three and he was naked and covered in some orange paint. I just had to laugh at it.

"Someone wanted to paint himself?"

He chuckled.

"That's me when I was like two. My parents let me try body painting."

I looked around more at the photos at the wall. One of them was the same picture that was his cover photo with him and his family. I told him,

"I like you better than my old neighbors."

He asked,

"Yeah? What were they like?"

"They were annoying, obnoxious and inconsiderate of me. All the time, I had to go down here and ask them to turn their music, which consisted of like Jay-Z, Wiz Khalifa or Snoop Dogg most of the time, or their reruns of _Loiter Squad_ and _Jersey Shore_ down and one of them tried to bribe me with sex with him to let them have it as loud. It always smelled like alcohol and marijuana. They got kicked out for that."

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who have never heard of** _ **Loiter Squad**_ **, it's an adult swim sketch comedy show. I've actually never seen the show, I just know of it. To me, it seems like an adult version of** _ **Kenan & Kel **_**(which believe it or not, the** _ **Austin & Ally **_**creators, Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seiffert, were part of the staff of) or** _ **All That**_ **, you know from Nickelodeon in the 1990's, and some people describe it as a more racially diverse** _ **Jackass.**_ **But I know you guys didn't come here to listen to me jabber about** _ **Loiter Squad**_ **and the history of it. I'll get back to the story now.)**

Austin said,

"Do I have permission to punch those shitwits in their faces now?"

I said,

"Certainly."

Our panda express came. He said,

"You wait there for a second, gorgeous. I gotta go pay for our dinner."

I just blushed.

"OK."

He picked up his wallet and opened the door. It was a chinese guy (ironically enough) and he said,

"Thanks so much."

The delivery guy didn't have much of an accent in his voice, in fact he looked like Ken Jeong.

"No problem. That'll be nineteen ninety-five."

"OK. Here's your money."

He handed him the money and he studied the small boxes. He plopped the first container in front of me and put the second one in front of his spot and grabbed some plates, two steak knifes, two napkins and two forks.

"Thanks, Austin."

He smiled.

"You're welcome. This lighting makes you look so damn beautiful."

I just giggled.

"Oh stop."

I cut my orange chicken. My god it was tasty. I hadn't had Panda Express in a while. Austin picked up my fork and fed me my orange chicken and some of my mixed vegetables. I fed him some of his chinese food from his fork. After we were done, he picked up his phone and took a selfie of him and I just nuzzled up to him.

I just pecked him on his cheek and he pecked me back. He got a FaceTime request from Cadence, his little sister and also my former student. He answered it, and said to her,

"Hey, Cadence."

Cadence just flashed her big smile that she always had when she went to Kinloch Park. She was dressed in a white tank top with pink roses on it, medium wash distressed short shorts, pale pink rose stud earrings, and a gold C pendant. Her underarm-long blonde hair, that was normally straight, was in curls.

"Hey, Austin! I just called to let you know that Randy's home from deployment for the next six months and Mom, Dad and I are having dinner with him and Alanna here this weekend, and they wanted to know if you'd like to come, too."

Austin said,

"I feel like I hardly see Randy anymore, so of course I'd like to go. But Cadence, I got a little surprise for you! Look who I'm having dinner with!"

He turned me to the camera. Cadence flashed me her beautiful smile.

"Ms. Dawson?!"

"Cadence!"

"Oh my god! It's amazing to see you again!"

"It's great to see you again, too!"

Cadence giggled. She had always been this animated, upbeat person and I couldn't help but adore that about her. She was also very smart, artistic and very sweet.

"I wish this was face to face so I could give you a Cadence hug!"

I said,

"I do miss your hugs, miss thang."

Sometimes I called her Miss Thang because she was such a character.

"I miss you with my heart, Ms. Dawson!"

I could hear a middle aged man from off left ask,

"Cadence, who's that you're on FaceTime with?"

"Oh, hey, Dad. I'm just talking with Austin. I called him to let him know that Randy's in town and I just realized the girl he's hanging out with is my eighth grade english teacher."

Austin asked,

"Can I talk with Dad?"

Cadence smiled.

"Sure. Daddy, Austin wants to talk to you."

Austin said to me,

"She's always been my dad's little princess. She still calls him Daddy sometimes."

She handed him her phone and I could see a man in his fifties with a gray quiff hairstyle.

"Hey, son."

"Hey, Dad. Meet my new neighbor, Ally."

I just flashed Austin's dad a smile.

"Hi, Mr. Moon."

"Hi, Ally. You can call me Mike. As you may know, Austin and Cadence's brother Randy is back in town after deployment and he and his wife are having dinner here this weekend. Would you like to come along?"

"Sounds amazing! Thanks, Mr.- I mean, Mike."

"Pleasure's all mine. Anyone who's a friend of any of my kids is a friend of mine."

I liked Austin's dad already. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. If I liked Austin himself, his sister and his dad, I knew I was going to like his whole family.

 **Austin's family likes Ally already. And infinitedawn429 suggested I have Ally and Austin's sister Cadence meet again. Infinitedawn429, I have a feeling you're going to like this chapter :). Happy early Father's day, I hope you're all going to do something special for your dad- he was the one with your mom in the delivery room, he is your first teacher (aside from your mom) and he is the first male role model. Peace, love, hugs and kisses!**


	10. Chapter 10

AUSTIN:

I had an amazing date with Ally. Wine was probably the most romantic drink you could have with someone you really liked. I grabbed my MacBook Air and logged onto Skype, to Skype my friends Jace and Dez. I made a video chat with them and Jace and Dez answered. I said,

"Hey, guys!"

Jace was saying,

"What's up, Austin!"

Dez was sipping on a bottle of Stella Artois.

"Someone's all happy about something!"

I said,

"I am! You know when I moved in here, I already know I like the place where I live. I think my favorite part is my neighbor."

Dez took a Homer Simpson-esque sip of his beer.

"What's he like?"

I said,

" _She_ is gorgeous, super nice, super smart and really driven. You guys would really like her."

Dez asked me,

"What's her name?"

"Ally Dawson."

Jace's face light up in epiphany.

"I know her! She's Trish's childhood friend and Bella calls her "Aunt Ally" whenever she sees her. One of the nicest people I've ever met."

Isabella (or as we called her "Bella") was the two, almost three-year-old daughter of my buddy Jace and his girlfriend, Trish. She was one of the cutest kids I'd ever met. For a living, Trish was an RN at a pediatrician's office while Jace owned his own skatepark. Dez was a photographer and director and his girlfriend Carrie Lainfield was a yoga teacher at Body and Soul gym. The three of us met at a party and we had become fast friends- we bought food, went to bars and played video games together, we had gone to comic con together and we went clubbing together (not to pick up girls) and watched reruns of satirical (and at times, controversial) cartoons and sitcoms together.

Dez asked,

"What does she do for a living?"

I said,

"She teaches english to seventh and eighth graders at Kinloch Park Middle School. You guys remember my sister Cadence?"

Dez said,

"Yeah. I was at the hospital with you, your parents and Randy when she was born. I've known Cadence with her whole life."

Jace laughed.

"Yup. She's like a blonde, teenaged clone of Bella!"

I laughed.

"Anyway, get this, Ally used to be Cadence's english teacher! And Randy and Alanna are in town for the next six months and the family is having dinner and she's coming, too!"

Dez was saying,

"Wow, your new love interest meets your family."

I said,

"Well, she met my Dad, and she already knows Cadence. She was her teacher in eighth grade. Today, I went down to her work and snuck some little treats into her mailbox at her job at Kinloch Park."

Dez asked me in a high-pitched singsong voice,

"Ooh, what'd you give her?"

He took another sip of his Stella Artois. Dez loved his beer. But by no means was he an alcoholic.

"Victoria's Secret gift card for a hundred bucks and a scented candle?"

Dez was saying,

"You must really think she's sexy."

"I do. But of course, I'm still getting to know her. And we kept the wine drinking to a minimum."

Jace asked,

"How'd you guys meet?"

"She had a ton of papers to grade, and she said she needed some coffee, and she asked me if I wanted to go with her and I did. What happened was, I had just come home from getting my hair cut at Supercuts and I barely knew her, and she noticed."

Jace told me,

"Oh yeah, I saw the pictures and the video."

Dez just grinned like a blockhead. He was kind of a blockhead but he was a lovable one.

"I came with him. I took pictures and a video."

I said,

"I'm taking credit for the first and last one, because they were my snapchats."

"Yeah, you get credit for those."

ALLY:

I was at Kinloch Park, analyzing the gradebook. My first period seventh graders had come into my class. Everyday, my classes had to write in the journals about a certain topic, and it had to be at least one paragraph. Today's topic was _What would you do if you could travel into the past_? I also had a bin for homework- we had moved on from _Oliver Twist_ to _If I stay_.

I had my students type up a paragraph explaining what they thought the book would be about and whether or not they were looking forward to reading it. I got distracted because I was thinking about hanging out with my new neighbor Austin last night. And on saturday, I was going to meet the rest of his family. I felt one of my students, her name was Caterina (She went by "Cat") Altman, tap my shoulder.

"Ms. Dawson,"

she asked me as she gathered some of her blonde hair and pulled it back with a jaw clip. Cat Altman was in the seventh grade, but she looked and acted like a high schooler and always dressed like she was a contestant on _What not to wear_ or _Project Runway_. Which was understandable because she was the richest seventh grader in Kinloch Park- her dad was a data scientist and her mom was a fashion designer. I said,

"Yes, Caterina Altman?"

Cat rolled her eyes.

"I always feel like I'm in trouble when people say my full name. Anyway, are you OK? You were sitting at the computer when you just started to stare blankly into space. Normally, you call on students for doing that."

I said,

"Oh, yeah, Cat. I'm wonderful. I have this new neighbor, and I really like him."

Cat smiled.

"I think Ms. Dawson has some puppy love."

I giggled.

"Me too. Now please go back to your seat, Ms. Altman."

She said compliantly,

"Yes, Ms. Dawson."

She sat down at her seat. I was definitely in love with Austin. I was looking forward to meeting the rest of his family and reuniting with Cadence.


	11. Chapter 11

ALLY:

The day with I was having dinner with my handsome new neighbor and his family came by faster than I expected. I wanted to look nice, but still not try too hard. I just dressed in a light pink leather jacket, a pink top that had one cold-shoulder sleeve and exposed the other shoulder, black skinny jeans, a pair of pink high heeled sandals, a gold star necklace, gold hoop earrings **(I know Laura Marano doesn't have her ears pierced in real life, but in this story, Ally has her ears pierced)** , and I had just come back from my local salon after getting my usually curly light brown hair with natural blonde highlights in straightened. I went back to my apartment to put my makeup on. I grabbed my keys, my phone and walked out the door to see Austin waiting for me.

He was dressed in a black blazer, a light blue dress shirt, khaki jeans and white nikey high tops and his sexy, short, blonde hair (it looked almost exactly the same way it did when we met after he had just gotten his hair cut) was slicked back. He was holding a bottle of red wine in a champagne colored bag. He grinned as soon as he saw me walk out of the door and I grinned right back at him.

"Hiya, Handsome!"

He giggled.

"Hey, beautiful."

He kissed my hand. I really liked this guy. He just made me tingle inside everytime I saw him. He asked me,

"Are you excited?"

I said,

"Yes. I can barely breathe I'm so excited."

He said,

"I'm excited for you to meet the rest of my family."

He held my hand and walked me to his car. His car was really nice- a white Nissan four door. The drive was about twenty minutes and I was tingling the entire car ride over. He held my hand and clutched bag with the wine bottle and he rang the doorbell. The door opened, revealing his sister Cadence. She was even prettier now than she was when she was my student. She was sixteen, but she was dressed like she was in her twenties in a long sleeved scalloped lace wine-colored bodycon dress, nude heels and hoop earrings. She was holding her phone, a gold iPhone 5S with a yellow gold case with pink butterflies that said _Life is full of possibilities,_ in one hand and a light pink heart compact mirror in the other.

One thing I had always known about Cadence Moon was that she was a girly person. She flashed me her smile, which she never appeared to be without when she was in my class.

"Austin!"

She exclaimed and tightly embraced her brother,

"And Ms. Dawson!"

She embraced me tightly, too.

"Hey, Cadence! You're so pretty!"

Cadence giggled.

"Thank you! And I think it's so great that my brother and my favorite english teacher from middle school found each other and connected at the hip!"

She pulled a nude-colored elastic off her wrist and started to tie her long blonde hair into a high half ponytail.

AUSTIN:

I could tell my sister Cadence was already an Auslly shipper (that was the shipname for Ally and I). Ally went into the kitchen and my sister whispered,

"Is she your girlfriend yet, Austin?"

I said,

"No. We're just good friends. I moved in across the hall from her, and we've hung out twice. But I do have a crush on her."

My sister giggled.

"Well, she seems like a better girl than Brooke."

"More mentally stable than Brooke. Ergo, I agree with you, Cadence."

I could hear my mom ask,

"Which son of mine is here?"

I said,

"I am, Mom."

My mom took off her apron, that was covered in food dressing and sauces.

"Hey, sweetie,"

She tightly embraced me and kissed my cheek.

"That new haircut looks cute on you."

I said,

"Thanks. I'm hinting you saw the pictures and video Dez posted."

My mom laughed.

"Yes, your father and I are Facebook friends with him."

I smiled.

"Meet Ally Dawson. She used to be Cadence's english teacher when she was in middle school!"

"Ally!"

"Dr. Moon! How long has it been?"

Friends of Cadence, Randy and mine all called my mom Dr. Moon, because she was a dermatologist. Ally tightly embraced my mom.

"Look how beautiful you are."

"Thank you."

I went into the den to see my dad and Cadence sitting on the couch. My sister was drinking sparkling apple cider in a champagne glass. (She was sixteen. She couldn't drink yet.) My dad said to my sister,

"My baby girl's all grown up. It seems like only yesterday I was giving you piggy back rides and I was playing with you. Now you're dressing like a grownup and drinking out of a champagne glass."

Cadence said to him,

"I'm your only daughter and youngest child. But at least I'm not showing any knockers."

"Please don't use the concepts of dressing loose and the fact that you're not only my only daughter, but you're my youngest child in the same sentence."

I joked,

"Just what I want to hear my sister and my dad talking about."

My little sister laughed in a very embarrassed way.

"Sorry you had to hear that, Austin."

"It's all good. Some of my delinquents are in jail for working as prostitutes."

My dad stood up and embraced me.

"Hey, son. It's good to see you again."

"Great to see you again, too! Where are Randy and Alanna?"

My dad's phone dinged and he looked at it.

"That was Randy, he said, they're in a bit of a traffic jam they're on their way."

My mom and Ally entered the room. They were each carrying a bottle of wine and champagne. They set them on coasters and later my mom came in with champagne glasses. Ally sat beside me and nuzzled up to me. Cadence walked in, holding her phone in the neckline of her dress, while holding her compact mirror and a pink pouch with a sketch drawing of Ariel from _The Little Mermaid_ on it (but Ariel had a pink bra and had seashells in her hair on this pouch). She immediately took out her pink lipstick and put on black mascara and black eyeliner.

I asked,

"Doing your makeup?"

She said,

"Yup. Gotta make sure I'm on fleek."

Ally took a sip of her champagne.

"You look beautiful, Cadence."

My little sister smiled.

"Thank you."

My sister picked up a pink lip gloss from her bag and spread it on her lips. I nuzzled up to Ally. She was just beautiful and I was in love with her. The doorbell rang.

I said,

"I think that's my brother and his wife."

I opened the door. Alanna was feeling my brother's dark blonde buzz cut (He still had his buzz cut. He was in the military and had buzzed his hair multiple times, but he found it just easier to keep the buzz cut). I saw my brother and I said,

"Brother!"

And he said,

"Hey, brother!"

We man-hugged. I only occasionally got to see my brother since he was deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and different war zones. It made me regret that we fought when we were kids. There were times when I liked to fuck with him, but he was my brother and I loved him and he loved me. At times, I feared for his safety. We used to fight as kids sometimes, but when he left for the military after graduating high school, that was one of the saddest days of my life.

"Hey, Alanna!"

Alanna smiled at me.

"Hey, Austin. New haircut?"

I said,

"Yep. I cut it last week."

"I like it."

I giggled.

"Aww, thanks, Lani."

Sometimes my brother called his wife "Lani" and I guess it just rubbed off on me.

"You know, my older sister Emily is a hairdresser at this salon in LA, where my family comes from. She's amazing- she gives haircuts, coloring, blowouts and perms and she's great at it."

"That's amazing!"

"She's amazing!"

I had met Alanna's family at her and Randy's wedding. She was the third of four children- her sister Emily was the oldest, than her brother Gavin and than the youngest was her sister Alicia. I walked with her and my brother into the den. My parents were very happy to see their oldest child. My dad was saying,

"There's GI Joe!"

Randy laughed.

"Hey, Dad."

My dad and Randy embraced each other as Alanna got a kiss from my mom on the cheek and hugging her. She alternated to hug my dad and my little sister, and Randy was embracing Cadence, too. He graduated high school when she was six and I remember before he went off to war, she was crying. I don't blame her, she was only six at the time. I sat down beside Ally again and put my arm around her and I said,

"Alanna, Randy, I'd like you guys to meet Ally, my date."

Cadence sipped some of her sparkling apple cider from the glass.

"Also my former english teacher. You're going to love her."

Alanna laughed.

"I'm sure I will, Miss Thang."

Ally laughed.

"Thanks, Cadence."

Alanna and Randy both shook hands with Ally. Later, Randy and I were helping my mom serve dinner- chicken ribs, garden salad and baked potatoes. Randy whispered to me,

"Does my little brother have a new girlfriend?"

"Ally's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend. But I admit, I do want her to be my girlfriend."

"I like her better than that other girl. What was her name, the batshit insane girl who you used to go out with who was a hooker and a drug dealer?"

"You mean Brooke? She's in jail for all I know."

"It's ironic that you work as a juvenile corrections officer, you had a girlfriend who broke the law by working as a prostitute and drug dealer, and that in all this, Dad is a lawyer."

I laughed.

"Yeah it is."

"How old were you again when you had your first crush?"

I said,

"It was sixth grade. I had a crush on what was her name, Kelly Ross. Remember Dez blurted it out to you, Mom and Dad."

Randy chuckled.

"That Dez. He's such a character. When he got drunk at Alanna's and my wedding, I have to admit, that was definitely the laugh of the party."

"Yes, it was hilarious. He was like saying all that ridiculous shit and like acting like an idiot. Dez is an idiot sometimes, but I love him anyway."

 **Eleventh chapter everybody! I hope you're all having a great gay pride weekend! Support LGBT and wear rainbow! Peace, love, hugs and kisses because you all deserve it!**


	12. Chapter 12

ALLY:

I got up and found a seat beside Austin. I asked his mom,

"Do you need any help, Dr. Moon?"

Dr. Moon smiled.

"You don't need to call me Dr. Moon, Ally. You can call me Mimi. And yes, please, a hand would be very much appreciated. Can you help me carry in the salad?"

"Sure, Dr.- I mean, Mimi."

"Thank you so much, Ally."

"You're welcome."

After all the platters were on the table, Mike turned to Mimi.

"Everything looks amazing."

He kissed her head. Mimi asked,

"Where's Cadence?"

He looked at his wife.

"Our little princess is in the bathroom."

I heard the clanking of high heels. Cadence walked out, now sporting pink bands on her braces that matched her dress perfectly.

"Hi everyone! I was just changing my bands for my braces!"

Mimi looked at her daughter.

"Good girl. That reminds me, I need to call the orthodontist because a certain missy miss is due to get her braces off very soon."

Cadence lit up.

"Yay! These things are a pain."

Mimi said to her,

"But you've had them since you were twelve, you must be used to them by now."

"But Mom, they hurt at times."

Mimi looked at her daughter.

"But every time you get them tightened, you like the ice cream and chocolate pudding you get."

Cadence said,

"Yeah, that's the only part I like. But I'm about to get my braces off! Oh yeah!"

Austin poured me a sip of champagne and I said to his younger sister,

"Cadence Dawn, I still think you're beautiful, with or without braces."

Dawn was Cadence's middle name. It was her middle name on her Facebook page. She took a sip of her sparkling apple cider and smiled.

"Thanks, Ms. Dawson."

I laughed.

"You can call me Ally. I could be your sister-in-law one day."

Austin put his hand on my hand again, giving me that tingly feeling and blushed. I swear him blushing was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen in my life. Cadence smiled.

"OK, Ally."

She was sitting on the left side of me, with Austin sitting on the right side. Austin picked up his glass.

"Why don't you try some champagne?"

Mimi seemed to take umbrage with this.

"Austin! Don't give your sister champagne!"

Randy, sitting next to Alanna, piped in.

"Come on, Mom, I had my first nip of wine at fourteen. And Cadence is sixteen, I'm sure it's fine if she has a small sip."

Mimi sighed.

"OK, OK."

Mike took out his phone.

"I've gotta get this on video, my baby girl having her first sip of champagne."

Cadence asked,

"Is it recording?"

Mike laughed.

"Yup. Go ahead, pumpkin. Take your first sip."

The only daughter of the Moon family smiled.

"OK, Dad."

Austin whispered to me,

"He's always called her pumpkin. Cadence is Daddy's little girl."

She took a sip of the champagne.

"How is it?"

"Most bitter thing I've ever tasted."

He ended the video and put Mimi took a sip of her red wine.

"You know, Mike, this isn't her first time. Her first time was at Randy and Alanna's wedding, we let her have a half a glass of Sangria."

Cadence started laughing.

"Much sweeter than the champagne."

Alanna said,

"I think that's because Sangria is more of an alcoholic juice."

Austin took another sip of his drink.

"You guys remember my buddy, Jace? His girlfriend Trish loves Sangria!"

Mike asked,

"The Tony Hawk friend of yours who you went to college with who owns the skatepark?"

I said,

"Well, he does love Tony Hawk and Trish loves her Sangria."

Austin asked me,

"How do you know Jace and Trish?"

I said,

"Trish has been my best friend since I was five. We went to elementary school, middle school, high school and we were part of the same sorority together at University of Miami. My mother is a professor at University of Miami so I had easy access. And Jace met her on eHarmony."

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know Ally really went to Harvard on the show, but in this story, she went to University of Miami.)**

Austin said,

"That's so funny! My friend Dez and I went to high school and college with Jace! Now they have a two-year-old together-"

We said in unison,

"Named Isabella!"

"She calls me Uncle Austin."

I laughed.

"She calls me Aunt Ally!"

Alanna smiled.

"She sounds adorable."

Austin and I said in unison,

"You have no idea!"

I wanted to get to know Austin's sister-in-law, Alanna, a little better. I asked her,

"Well, I know Randy is a soldier in the Marine Corp. What about you, Alanna, what do you do for a living?"

Alanna took a sip of her drink.

"I'm an accountant. I've always loved math, since I was in school, it was my best subject in school. What's your job, Ally?"

I said,

"I'm an english teacher at Kinloch Park,"

I started to say and I narrowed my eyes at Cadence.

"I used to be this one's teacher in fact when she was in middle school."

The blonde girl dressed in high heels and the pinky-red tight dress giggled.

"She did."

"But my salary is horrible so I have a second job at Starbucks four days a week."

Randy asked,

"How'd you two meet?"

I said,

"Well, it was last week, and I had over a hundred papers on _Oliver Twist_ to grade, and I needed some coffee. He had just moved in down the hall from me and I saw him coming home from getting his hair cut and then he joined me for coffee."

Austin laughed.

"Did you also get a scented candle and gift cards to and Victoria's Secret in your mailbox?"

I said,

"Yes, in fact, I did. How do you…. Wait, was it you who got me those gifts I saw in my mailbox at Kinloch Park and at home?"

He blushed.

"Guilty as charged."

I said,

"That was really sweet. And on Monday, I was released from Starbucks two hours early because my boss had to go see her sister who was having twins, and he invited me over for some drinks and Panda Express."

I could see Cadence covering her mouth with her hands and her smiling and I could even see her cheeks turning pink. She was fangirling so hard- I had seen this before. Trish, Kira and I used to fangirl over boy bands in Middle School and High School, and I had seen girls I taught and the kids in the hall fangirl over certain boy bands.

Randy giggled.

"She's blushing."

AUSTIN:

Dinner was delicious. My mom was an amazing cook. Later, Cadence and I were helping her serve dessert- my mom had bought a vanilla cake covered in chocolate icing from Zak the bakery, one of the best that I loved growing up and still did to this day, vanilla ice cream and coffee with half and half and sugar.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I go to my grandma's house for dinner, we often have ice cream with coffee for dessert. I was kind of inspired to put it in this story.)**

Cadence asked me,

"Austin, when are you going to tell Ally how you feel about her?"

I said,

"I'm still getting to know her. But the gifts in her mailbox were kind of clues that I really like her."

Cadence said,

"You broke up with that fruitcake girl Brooke. She was drank, smoked weed, used pot, coke and heroin and even worked as a hooker. I've even seen her a few times working as a hooker, extorting people and doing something involving drugs when I go to see Eliana."

Eliana Carranza-Russell was Cadence's best friend since kindergarten. She was half african-american, half mexican and a quarter colombian. She lived in Liberty City- a very sketchy neighborhood. When she was younger, my parents always drove her because the area was so sketchy. In the past I'd even gone down there a few times to pick her up, and I had been approached by drug addicts.

"Yeah, she'd checked herself into the loony bin, and after she got out, she was emotionally unstable, and a doctor from the hospital called me, and he said, I should get a restraining order. She's not emotionally stable. I think she's in jail now."

"Austin, if I can fix Eliana up with the guy she has a crush on, she has a date with him tonight, they're going to see _Titanic_ in the park and get pizza, and if I can fix up Randy and Alanna, I set up his profile on Eharmony where he met Alanna, I can fix up you and Ally."

I messed up my sister's blonde hair that matched mine and my mom's. She was my mom's mini-me.

"I didn't doubt you for a second, Little Miss Sunshine."

Everyone in my family called my sister Cadence "Missy Miss." Because she was the only female, besides my mom, in my family. My parents had started the trends of calling her lots of nicknames them, and calling her those were rubbing off on even Randy, Alanna and I, and was starting to rub off on Ally. My dad had always called her Princess and Pumpkin (you know how fathers are with their daughters, especially if they're the only daughter of the youngest) and my mom had done the same and called her anything with the word "Missy" or "Miss." What can I say, we loved my little sister, she was a sweet, artistic, creative, tech-savvy, generally happy and smart little girl, even if she could be pretty sassy at times.

She said matter-of-factly,

"And you got your hair cut for her."

I laughed.

"To be fair, Cadence, I got a haircut because my hair was too long. I didn't know I was going to pick up a girl that quick. But she did like it."

My little sister chortled.

"I saw the pictures and video Dez took of you."

I said,

"He wanted to go with me to record it."

We sat at the table to eat dessert. Ally had eaten her slice of cake and I was feeding her her scoop of vanilla ice cream. After dessert, I brought her back home to her apartment. I joined hands and looked into her gorgeous brown eyes that made her look like either a doe or a puppy- I wasn't sure which I liked better. Ally said,

"Austin, thanks for bringing me over to meet your family. I had a great time."

I smiled at how beautiful she was.

"You're welcome. I was glad you got to meet my family, too."

I leaned in and we kissed on the lips. Perfect end to an amazing date. My sister Cadence, the matchmaker was right. I needed to tell Ally how I felt about her. Love was stronger than anything else in this world.

I would tell Ally how I felt if it meant coming up the fire escape leading to her apartment with roses when it was raining cats and dogs. I realistically might catch pneumonia doing that, but it wouldn't matter. I just wanted to see that gorgeous smile across her gorgeous face.

 **Ooh, Austin and Ally realize they like each other! I wonder when Austin's going to ask her to be his girlfriend ;). Because let's be honest, we can feel their romance blossoming like a crocus in spring. I hope I gave you guys some feels :).**


	13. Author's Note: PLEASE READ

**Hi guys. I want to say that my great grandmother (my mom's grandma) just died today and that you guys may have to wait a little bit for chapter 13. I really miss her, but she died in her sleep, she lived almost 97 years and it just wouldn't be fair for her to live anymore because she was very out of it.**

 **This story is not going on hiatus, but I may take a little longer to update. Just try to bare with me. I'm very close to my family, and I will miss my great grandmother.**

 **RIP Great Grandma D; :(**


	14. Chapter 13

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hi everyone. I want to thank you for the love and support you all gave me about the passing of my great grandmother. I will miss my great grandmother, but like I said in the Author's Note, I'm glad she's in heaven. She was 96, she was out of it, and it just wouldn't have been fair for her to live anymore. But I'm going to focus on the positives- I have this story and I'm starting a new job really soon designing corsets at this Victorian-era wedding dress shop (I didn't get fired from my internship, I just will have ended it, and don't worry, I'll be making time for this story and I have you guys supporting me every step of the way.**

 **Just going to be positive. OK, enough maundering, here's Chapter 13 of** _ **Life improved with him**_ **. I wanted to make Austin & Ally get a little **_**closer**_ **this time, if you know what I mean ;)**

ALLY:

We continued kissing as we went to his apartment and his bedroom and we took our shoes off. His bed was very soft. He took my jacket off and then my top and I took his blazer off and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his chest and hot six pack, accompanied by buff arms. He stopped kissing me for a moment and stared into my eyes and asked,

"Are you OK with this?"

I gave him a big lustful smile.

"Oh yeah."

"Just let me go grab a condom from the bathroom."

"OK."

He went to his bathroom and came out with a Trojan. I took off my jeans and unzipped his pants. I unhooked my bra and threw it on the floor.

 **(AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Yes, Austin & Ally are having sex. But I ended the steamy sex scene with Ally unhooking her bra. Yes, I am all for steamy love scenes, but I draw the line at porn. I never show groin areas or women's nipples.)**

I asked him,

"Can I mess up your hair?"

He giggled.

"Go insane."

I put my hands in his blonde hair. It was fluffy on top and shorter on the sides and in the back. We just went at it all night until we were exhausted. I woke up next to him in his bed. It was one of the most comfortable things I'd ever slept on. He whispered in my ear,

"Good morning, beautiful."

I woke up to find myself wrapped in his arms.

"Good morning, handsome. Your muscles are so hard. I like them."

"Thanks. I work out at night five times a week. It's a great way for me to unwind from dealing with juvenile delinquents all day."

"I should do that, too on the days I have off from Starbucks. I deal with kids who a fair amount of treat me like garbage and put their feet in the mouths."

He gave me a disgusted facial expression.

"I meant, say inappropriate things to me,"

He said,

"Oh."

He reached under the blanket and pulled the condom off and put it on his nightstand. He whispered,

"Did you have a good time last night?"

I giggled and booped his nose. I giggled and whispered,

"You bet your ass I did. It was great to meet your parents, Randy and Alanna, and to see your sister again."

He giggled.

"They love you too. My brother and sister told me that they like you better than the last girl I was with, her name was Brooke Carter. She was a fucking lunatic."

I asked,

"How so?"

He said,

"I dated the crazy bitch for nine months, but I broke up with her because she streetwalked and sold drugs to get money. We lived together for like six months, and it seemed a little fishy how she wore revealing outfits and came home flaunting cash in her bra and always smelled like drugs and alcohol. She then checked herself into a mental asylum, and when she got out she was more aggressive, psychotic and delusional, and a doctor who worked at the hospital, he called me, and I told him I was the significant other of Brooke Carter, and he said I should get a restraining order against her, which I did."

I said,

"A bit ironic, that you dated a girl who did drugs and sold herself on the street and you work with kids who do that."

Austin giggled.

"I know, right? But I like you much better. You're clean and you don't sell your body."

I said,

"Oh, no. This body's not for sale."

I snuggled up to him.

"These blankets are so comfortable. It's like sleeping on a cloud."

He told me. Still snuggled in his arms, I glanced at a picture frame on his nighstand. In the picture, it had him, Randy and Cadence sitting on the sofa in their den. She looked so cute in her little blue pajamas. I remembered Cadence had brought it in back when I was her teacher and an assignment I had given her class at the time was to write an essay on their family. I said,

"I remember Cadence brought that exact picture in her first semester of her eighth grade year."

Austin kissed my temple.

"At that time, she went on and on about what a great teacher you were. And she was definitely right."

I kissed his cheek.

"You and your siblings just look so cute together."

Austin laughed.

"Aw, thanks. I love my brother and sister. And I'm glad I got to see Randy last night- I hardly see him since he gets deployed a lot."

"You must really miss him."

"I do. Not only do I miss him, but I worry for his safety. He gets deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, any place in the world. It makes me regret annoying him as a kid."

I said,

"Well, I never had any siblings. Just parents who divorced when I was nine. You had half of _The Brady Bunch_."

Austin giggled.

"Hey I love that show!"

Later, after we had showered and gotten dressed together, Austin asked,

"Why don't we go get some breakfast? You like Subway? My treat."

"Who doesn't like Subway? And thank you."

He zipped on a green hoodie over his blue T-shirt with _Rocko's Modern Life_ on it.

"Nice tee shirt."

I smiled.

"Thanks. My friends Jace and Dez and I sometimes go thrift shopping and on our last venture, I bought this. I love _Rocko's Modern Life._ Randy, Dez and I used to watch it together and sometimes Cadence would join, too. We had to bribe her with every dollar of our pocket money to get her not to tell our parents that we let her watch it, but it was worth it to not get our asses grounded and all the dirty jokes flew over her head anyway."

I giggled.

"That's what siblings are for."

He held my hand as we took a walk to Subway. He asked me,

"What would my pretty girl like for breakfast?"

I asked,

"Can I have a sandwich with eggs, tomatoes, spinach and cheese and orange juice?"

He said,

"Absolutely, princess."

He picked up my hand and kissed it, once again, giving me that tingly feeling. Waiting for him to ask me to be his girlfriend felt like the _Twilight_ saga with Bella having to decide over Edward and Jacob. _Twilight_ was big when I was in High School, and _The Hunger Games_ was also a big thing. I had overheard some of the students talking about the books and fangirling over the attractive male characters. Hell, some of them were reading _Fifty shades of Grey_. I liked the books, but the first movie, I remember seeing it with my dad and Katie, and it was awful.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Again, thank you all for your support. I really appreciate it. I hope you all have a fantastic fourth of july! Peace, love, hugs and kisses!**


	15. Chapter 14

ALLY:

Austin was so sweet for buying me breakfast. For himself, he ordered a sandwich with eggs, spinach and cheese and an orange juice. I had just had the most amazing weekend I'd had in a while. Austin asked me,

"Want to take this stuff to go?"

I said,

"Sure."

Walking down the street, I saw my student Cat Altman in sweats holding running and she had her gold iPhone 6S covered in a white case with red roses and it said _Warning explicit content_. She immediately recognized me, touched her iPhone, that was clipped to her sports tank top and took her apple earpods out of her ears.

"Ms. Dawson?!"

She sounded surprised to see me.

"Hey, Cat. Meet my neighbor, Austin. I was just getting some breakfast with him. Austin, this is Cat, one of my first period students."

He smiled.

"Hey, Cat. I'm Austin Moon, I live across the hall from Ms. Dawson."

Cat giggled.

"I'm Ms. Dawson's student. She's told me about you."

She was staring at him in a very attractive way.

"You're cute."

Austin giggled.

"Aw, thanks!"

He rumpled her blonde hair, which was tied in a side ponytail.

"Awww, thanks!"

Cat said,

"I'll see you tommorrow, Ms. Dawson."

"Yeah. It was great to run into you, Cat."

"You, too,"

She smiled and put her earpods back into her ears and started to jog on by. I held my neighbor's hand as he walked me home and I said,

"Thank you for breakfast and for an amazing night last night, Austin."

"You're welcome. I definitely had a great time with you last night and this morning."

He was stroking my hand with my thumb, which gave me that tingly feeling again. It brought a big smile to my face.

"And you know we had sex last night, right?"

I said,

"Yeah."

"I just hope you know that I want more than just sex with you."

I smiled.

"I believe it."

"We haven't even known each other for two weeks and I feel that you and I have already become very close."

I said,

"I really like that about us, Austin. And not only do I like you better than my three old neighbors, but I also like you better than my ex-boyfriend. I haven't had one for four years."

"Why not? You're freaking gorgeous!"

I said,

"First of all, thank you, and second of all, my old boyfriend, his name was Kevin Harvard. I broke up with him because he cheated on me by having sex with another woman, he was alcoholic and he had a lot of DUIs."

"Holy shit, that's even sketchier than my ex-girlfriend or even any of my inmates."

"You had a girlfriend who sold drugs and her body and you work with kids who get into drugs, gangs and commit crimes."

"I guess that's about the same."

He kissed my hand again.

"I'll see you around,"

I said to him.

"Yeah, Miss thang."

I giggled.

"Ms. Thang?"

"My parents call my sister that, so why shouldn't I call you Miss Thang, too?"

I laughed.

"I like it."

The next day at Kinloch park, I decided that the daily journal topic should be, _What would you look for in your perfect significant other_? _Be detailed_. In honor of my date with Austin. Cat was giving me that look that Trish used to give me in middle school and high school when I liked a boy or when a boy liked me. She whispered,

"This is because you're with your new neighbor, right?"

I said,

"Maybe."

She said to me,

"You have a crush, Ms. Dawson. You can't deny it."

I said,

"I'm not denying it. But you know, love is not something you should ever run into."

One of my more troubled seventh graders, Landon Velazquez, who was manifestly eavesdropping on us. He started giggling. I was almost dreading calling on him due to his tendency of constantly putting his foot in his mouth.

"Have you had a booty call with him yet?"

I said,

"Why don't you save that question for when you get stoned with your friends?"

Cat covered put her hands on her nose and face and said,

"Oh you got burned!"

"You don't know I smoke pot with my friends."

Cat said,

"No, but I've seen you and your friends smoking it."

I said,

"Can we get back to the journal topic, please?"

Cat compliantly took out her composition book with the members of One Direction (and Zayn) on it from her pink, red, white and blue plaid Kate Spade backpack. Boybands were an undying trend with middle school and high school girls. I studied the gradebook and my phone was buzzing a bit. It was a reminder to go move my car. I said,

"Class, I'm going to be right back, I have to go move my car real quick."

AUSTIN:

After an amazing date with my neighbor Ally, I had work again. Doug and I were taking the inmates on a community service field trip to the homeless shelter. We wanted them to do their community service requirements, and I thought no better way to do that than to have them go on a field trip. I had to be there a little later than I usually did, so I decided to stop by Kinloch Park and bring her another little gift. I got her a necklace from Tiffany that had her name on it and I went to her classroom, which was room 208, and dropped it off on her desk.

Cat, the student I had met yesterday while out with her, perked up.

"Hey, Austin,"

She said to me, smiling.

"Oh, hey, Cat."

Another student with strawberry-blonde curly hair in a red tank top that said _Train like you've been picked for The Hunger Games_ in white letters told me,

"You know, our journal topic today was what we would want in our significant other, and I think you've just epitomized Ms. Dawson's perfect significant other."

A latino boy in a black t-shirt with a topless woman covering her nipples with her arms and a black ski cap asked,

"Are you on crack, dude? Why would you want to date Ms. Dawson? She's a cranky old bitch who shoves things we don't even give a goddamn shit up our asses. She's been sucking your dick so hard she's making you stoned."

I said,

"Hey, kid, I'll have you know, Ms. Dawson and I have not gotten that intimate, and no, I'm sober. You should be grateful she's your teacher. She does it out of her compassion for others, and despite her crappy salary."

"What kind of drugs are you doing?"

Cat said,

"Shut up, Landon. You had too much marijuana for breakfast. I think Ms. Dawson and Austin are the best couple since Brangelina. If you worked at this school, I'd totally vote for you in the best teacher couple poll in the yearbook."

I pinched her cheekbones.

"Aw, you're such a cutie."

Landon said,

"Fine. Date Ms. Dawson if you want to. But just know that you could find a hotter girl on a porn website."

I said,

"You're in middle school. You shouldn't be watching porn. Now, I gotta go to work."

I left the classroom. I knew Ally was going to like the necklace. Now, time for work. I smiled at Doug, my supervisior.

"Someone's in a good mood today."

I said,

"I am. You want to know why? You know I moved, right?"

"Yup."

"Well, I have this new neighbor, her name is Ally and she's amazing. Super nice, smart and really beautiful. I haven't been in love for five years, and it feels good."

I pulled out my phone and showed him a picture of Ally.

"You scored!"

I said,

"I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend yet. We've just been on four dates together so far. And I give her subtle hints that I want to go out with her by giving her candles, gift cards and even jewelry."

"Great hints."

"So, how are we getting to the homeless shelter?"

Doug said,

"In my van."

Doug had a wife and four kids so he used a minivan. I did role call and all the inmates were here, so we went in the van to the homeless shelter. I asked,

"It's kind of quiet back here, aren't you guys excited for community service?"

I heard a handful of,

"Yay" or "I guess" in flat, monotoned voices.

Sammi said,

"Well, it beats picking up garbage of a freeway in hot weather."

I said,

"That's the spirit! And it helps you kids fulfill your community service hours."

 **That was chapter 14. Happy fourth of july! I hope you all are having a ton of fun and eating all the grill you can eat! Peace, love, hugs and kisses.**


	16. Chapter 15

AUSTIN:

In the van, I was hearing the conversation between the inmates. Enrique was whispering to Gaby,

"Eres muy hermosa, Gaby. Me gustan tus tetas."

"Muchas Gracias. Eres un muchacho muy sexy. Tienes una novia?"

"No, pero yo quiero a ser mi novia. Y después de la visita de campo, hay que ir a mi casa y que debe tener relaciones sexuales."

I could hear Sammi asking,

"I don't understand what you guys are saying to each other, because I don't speak spanish, but why the hell are you guys talking about sex to each other?"

Enrique laughed.

"Because she's crazy hot as fuck. Like you're in juvy for prostitution like her, so you should know all about this."

I asked,

"Hey, hey, kids, keep the blue conversations to a minimum."

Sammi said,

"I caught him feeling up Gaby last night in the bathroom."

Enrique said,

"You're a fucking tattletale, Sammi."

Jamie was rapping "Fuck the police" with Brenda. We got to the homeless shelter and I had the inmates hand Doug their electronic devices. Doug was saying,

"Now, you guys know what we're going to do?"

Maria was saying,

"No, but I bet you're going to tell us."

He said,

"You bet your ass I am! You kids are going to spend the next three hours cooking and serving meals to these people. Because they don't have a roof over their head or food on the table."

Jamie said,

"Sucks for them."

Doug said,

"Yup. You guys will get some of it, too. I'm going to turn this conversation over to Austin, now."

I said,

"Thanks, Doug. I'm going to set some ground rules- no horseplay in the kitchen, it's not only inappropriate, but it's also dangerous, no inappropriate language- that means no swearing, that's not even just swearing, that also means no inappropriate conversations and also speaking kindly to each other. If you guys behave inappropriately, Doug or I will put you on timeout. You kids are old enough to know how to act. OK, I think you guys understand the rules. Any questions?"

Brenda asked me,

"Are we going to get paid for this? We should get paid if we're handling uncooked food and risking salmomella. Disgusting."

I said,

"No, Brenda. You guys are not going to get paid, you are doing this to fulfill your hours of community service for your parole officers. And you won't have to worry about Salmonella just as long as you wash your hands and wear gloves."

I opened the door and went in with Doug and the inmates and I met the person who ran the shelter. She was a very friendly african american woman and she had a name tag that read _Jessica_ on it and I said,

"Hi, you must be the manager. It's nice to meet you. I'm Austin Moon, this is my supervisior Doug, we work at the Miami Dade Juvenile Services Department. The inmates are here to fulfill their community service hours. Don't worry, they're all stable."

The manager smiled and said in a thick african american accent,

"I'm Jessica Lewis. It's nice to meet you, too."

She also shook hands with Doug and told him,

"I'm very glad you're here. We've been expecting you."

Doug smiled at her.

"I'm glad we're here, too. The inmates can not only fulfill their community service requirements, but they can also feel a sense of gratification."

Jessica smiled.

"That's amazing. These must be the inmates."

I said,

"Yeah. Every one of you say your name and age."

They all said their name and age and Jessica told them,

"It's very nice to meet all of you. All of you go wash your hands and then get a hairnet and apron and gloves."

ALLY:

I discovered a small blue Tiffany box on my desk. I opened it and discovered a necklace that said my name on the clasp. My student Sarah Dayton fluffed her strawberry blonde Taylor Swift curly hair and said,

"Some guy left that for you, Ms. Dawson. He's super hot."

I asked her,

"Do you know who dropped off this necklace for me, Sarah?"

Sarah picked up a red hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair into a bun.

"Yes. This hot blonde guy with one of the best haircuts I've ever seen on a guy, and he was in a hot outfit. Whoever cuts his hair deserves a solid gold medal."

Cat whispered to me,

"It was Austin, Ms. Dawson. He's the guy you're meant for."

Cat was right. Cat Altman was only in seventh grade, but she was sure as hell wise beyond her years. She was the smartest rich girl I'd ever met. For my lunch break, I had lunch with Kira in her office. She smiled at me.

"Someone's in a good mood today."

I said,

"I am. And take a guess why?"

Kira laughed.

"This involves your new neighbor, doesn't it?"

I said,

"Wow, Kira, you're as sharp as a tack. I had an amazing two day date with Austin. I had a sweet reunion with Cadence Moon, Dr. and Mr. Moon, and his brother and sister-in-law. His family are some of the nicest people I've ever met. And the next day, we went out for breakfast at Subway together."

She smiled.

"It sounds like you had an amazing weekend."

"And according to Sarah and Cat, he dropped off this necklace for me today. He must have come in while I was moving my car."

"He sounds like a sweetie."

I giggled.

"He is. He in fact encapsulates the word sweetie."

"Oh, Ally. That reminds me, the grading period ends on friday. You need to turn in your students' grades."

"Thanks, Kira."

When I got home from Starbucks, I discovered Austin talking on his phone.

"Hey, how is she?"

"She's fine? Phew! Yeah, we were on a field trip to the homeless shelter and she cut her hand really badly with the knife. Just drop her off to the Miami Dade Juvenile Justice Center, my supervisior Doug Stevens will tell you where her cell is."

"Just have her sit out of activities that put pressure on her hands? OK. Thanks, goodbye."

He hung up his phone.

"Hey, beautiful,"

He giggled.

I said,

"Hey, Austin."

He looked at my necklace.

"Ooh, you're wearing the necklace I got you. I dropped it off in your classroom today."

"Oh, I'm sorry I missed you. I had to go move my car and then I had to use the bathroom."

Austin chortled.

"No, it's cool. I met some more of your students. They're really colorful and some of them are a little cheeky."

I said,

"Welcome to my world, cowboy. I deal with it on a daily basis."

I giggled.

"So, what happened at the Juvenile dentention center, today?"

Austin said,

"We took them on a field trip to the Miami Rescue Mission homeless shelter to serve a meal to homeless people so they could fulfill some of their community service hours for their probation officers. It was fun, but we had to go home early because one of my inmates, her name is Sammi, cut her hand really badly with a knife and my supervisior and I had to call the emergency room."

I cringed.

"Ooh, that's not good. Is she OK?"

I said,

"Yeah, she's fine. She has to sit out of activities that require hand work, but she'll be fine."

I sighed in relief.

"Poor thing, though."

He said,

"Yeah."


	17. Chapter 16

AUSTIN:

I was so glad Ally liked the necklace I bought for her. I really liked her and I wanted to do a gesture that showed I did. I know she liked her teaching job, but I couldn't help but sympathize with her about how her students treated her like garbage. Especially the kid who wrote a paper on _Oliver Twist_ and ended his paper by saying she "had too many tampons stuck in her private area and suck the dicks of drunk faggots (I didn't even like to say that word because it was horrible) for all the fucks he gave," or the kid who told me that she was a cranky old bitch who shoved things he didn't care about down his throat and said I could find a more attractive girl on a porn website. I didn't go looking for women on porn websites.

I wasn't a pervert, and that would be "internet prostituting." I already had had a girlfriend who was a prostitute. I had definitely had en eventful day considering one of my inmates had gashed herself with a knife and had just about the most gruesome wound I'd ever seen in my life. And ironically, there was a time last year when Cadence got her braces stuck to her cheek and had to go to the emergency room and I had to leave work (my parents couldn't leave- My mom was on call at Miami Dermatology and my dad was in the middle of a case and Randy was fighting in Afghanistan at the time). Doug and I weren't the only people who were going to take care of Sammi, I was going to make sure the other detainees were looking out for her, too.

Sometimes the inmates bullied each other, but they did have sympathetic sides towards each other. They were good kids at heart, they just did all those horrible things like stealing, drugs, gangs and all that other shit because they didn't know how to deal with the hard stuff. So it wouldn't be fair to call them bad kids. I was at home, after today's trauma with Sammi, I needed something to take my mind off my worry for her and the profusely bleeding hand. I turned on the TV and looked for something to watch- _2 Broke Girls_ , _Big Bang Theory_ , _Modern Family_ , _Family Guy_ (and it was one of the classic episodes, too. After the twelfth season, the show got bad. The jokes were more mean-spirited than funny, the characters were hateful and the show was just not funny anymore.

But it was the episode where Brian got arrested for drunk driving, which was one of the best ones. Because Brian had such a heart towards Pearl, the lady he had to help for his community service. I heard a knock at my window. I saw someone I didn't want to see- Brooke Carter. She was sitting on a folding chair on the fire escape, smoking marijuana and dressed in a hoodie, corset top that enhanced her cleavage, leather short shorts and high heels. She got an evil looking smile on her face.

"Hello, Austin,"

She grinned cunningly.

I asked her,

"Brooke, what do you want?"

She breathed in my face. Her breath reeked of marijuana. She let out an evil sounding cackle.

"What do you think I want? To have sex with you."

"I filed that restraining order against you for a reason, you crazy psychopath! Now get the fuck out of my apartment!"

She crawled in through the window. I said,

"Brooke, were you spying on me?"

She breathed again and smoke emanated from her mouth. I could smell the marijuana from her breath.

"Are you smoking weed?"

She smiled in a very eerie way.

"Yes, I am. What are you going to do, Mr. Tough Guy?"

"Call the cops. Like I said, I filed the restraining order against you for a reason."

Brooke said,

"I'm been outside of your neighborhood working as a prostitute."

She pulled a big wad of cash from her bag of weed.

"I'll give you five hundred dollars if you have sex with me."

"I'm not prostituting for you, Brooke."

I grabbed her arm, and thrust her outside. Ally saw me and she asked me,

"What are you doing, Austin?"

I said,

"I'm getting rid of this crazy psycho."

Brooke exhaled the stench of pot and glowered at Ally.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STEALING MY BOYFRIEND, YOU FUCKING WITCH?!"

"He's not your boyfriend. I think you'd better go home, Brooke, you look and smell like you're high."

Brooke tried to break free from my grip. She shrieked,

"FUCKING LET ME GO, AUSTIN! SO I CAN BEAT THAT BITCH SENSELESS FOR SAYING I'M HIGH WHEN I'M SOBER!"

"Bullshit, Brooke. I saw you smoking marijuana on the fire escape of my apartment. You're not fooling anyone."

I was stronger than Brooke. I shoved her into the elevator aggressively and she did the middle finger at us. Ally asked me,

"Who was that girl?"

I said,

"Remember that crazy ex-girlfriend I had?"

"The one who worked as a prostitute and did drugs?"

"Yup. Well, I caught her sitting on the fire escape smoking weed, and she tried to prostitute with me, as well trying to bribe me with money to sleep with her."

"She's a lunatic."

I said,

"She epitomizes a lunatic. Not like you. You're amazing, clean and what I've been looking for my whole life."

I stroked Ally's hand and a big grin spread across her face.

"Epitomize. I gave my students a vocabulary test last week and that was one of the words."

 **Ooh, I wonder what's going to happen next :). Will Austin ask Ally to be his girlfriend? It's even killing me and I'm the person behind this story!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hi guys! If you're wondering, in the previous chapter, Brooke was** _ **not**_ **clean. She was under the influence of marijuana. Not only did Austin actually saw her smoking marijuana on the fire escape and not only did him and Ally smell the weed deriving from her breath, but also Brooke had a huge rise in her energy, was acting in a very surreal fashion and she was being very aggressive with Austin. I'm glad he broke up with her, he deserves better than a girl who works as a streetwalker and does drugs.**

 **And for the record, Austin and Ally's neighborhood is less sketchy than the previous chapter might imply. It's just Brooke is a prostitute, and she goes anywhere she pleases to have sex with random men for profit or sell pot, coke and horse (Horse is slang for heroin). Where should she end up- jail, rehab or a mental asylum? I'll let you guys pick ;) OK, here's Chapter 17!**

ALLY:

I just stared into Austin's big brown puppy eyes and his touch gave me a tingling sensation. His hands were as soft as a baby's ass. He kind of interrupted my thoughts by saying,

"I hope I didn't disturb you."

I said,

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Austin. You didn't disturb me. I just came out to see if you were OK because you were having one hell of an altercation with Brooke."

"Well, I'm kind of used to this, because I've had altercations with inmates, and some of them have gotten pretty violent with me. But I appreciate your sympathy."

He kissed my hand and now I just stared up at him.

"God you're beautiful,"

He said to me.

"Awww, thanks, Austin,"

I smiled at him,

"But if I'm beautiful, you're very handsome. You have an amazing haircut, hard muscles and baby soft skin."

He smiled at me.

"Aww, you adorable little thing! I get soft skin with moisturizer. My mom's a dermatologist, and she's actually given me, my siblings and even my dad face treatments and moisturizing treatments. Of course, Cadence uses them the most because she's a girl and my mom often gives her face masks."

"My mom used to give face masks and the cucumber on the eye treatments."

"While she was in college, earning her medical degree and while she did her internship, worked at a spa and she was a manicurist and pedicurist. My sister, when she wears a face mask, she likes to scare me with it."

I said,

"That doesn't sound like Cadence."

"Cadence, she loved to torture Randy and I, and she still does it on occasion, but she never really did it out of malice. She just loves to have fun. And besides her sassmaster side, that's one of the things Randy love most about our little sister."

We then saw Trish and Jace caressing each other and they kissed. I could hear Trish asking,

"You think I should have called to check on Cadence and Bella again?"

Jace was saying,

"It's all good, Trish. I'm sure he's fine with her. She's our nanny, she doesn't carry drugs or weapons, she's one of the people we'd best trust with our daughter. Best case scenario, she's in bed asleep. Worst case scenario, she's up right now watching something that's not appropriate for her. And she's probably up because she wants to see us before she goes to bed."

Trish also said,

"And also, she has preschool in the morning, and she's a toddler, so I don't think she should be up too late."

"It's fine, Trish, stop worrying."

"Thanks, Jacey, for putting my mind at ease."

"I'm your boyfriend. I'm there to love and comfort you, and I'm also there to be an asshole."

Trish laughed.

"You are an asshole. But you're a lovable asshole."

We saw Trish and Jace. Their faces descended into smirks.

"You guys seem to be hitting it off."

Trish tightly embraced me as Austin and Jace manhugged. I also hugged Jace and Austin hugged Trish. I said,

"Oh yeah, I love this guy! We've had four dates, one of them was where I met his family."

I smiled up at the hunky blonde guy who put his arm around me. Austin said,

"And I overheard the conversation between you two. Trish, did you say Cadence?"

Trish said,

"Yeah. She's babysitting Bella tonight because I had a seminar to go to tonight and Jace was having dinner with some of his co-workers. And she looks a bit like you, Austin."

Austin lit up.

"She's my little sister!"

I lit up.

"And when she went to Kinloch Park, I was her english teacher when she was in eighth grade!"

Jace smiled. Trish said,

"I saw Cadence's profile on and she seemed really qualified. And the fact that she's your sister means we'll sure as hell be hiring her again."

I said,

"My younger sister likes to earn money by babysitting. She's babysat my parents' coworkers' kids and she's made tons of money doing that. She loves kids."

Trish said,

"She seemed like a great substitute. Our regular nanny, Jace's business partner's cousin, got sick over the weekend and obviously she was too sick to watch Bella."

Austin asked Jace,

"Is she alright?"

Jace said,

"Yeah, she just has the flu. We're letting her rest and we don't want Bella exposed to the flu."

"I'm glad you guys are thinking about your daughter. I should probably come with you guys to your apartment to offer my sister a ride home."

Trish said,

"Yeah."

AUSTIN:

I smiled at Ally.

"It was so great to see you, Ally. I should probably go with Trish and Jace to go get my sister."

My crush smiled at me.

"You're a good brother. I'll see you around."

I kissed Ally's hand and she blushed and walked back to her apartment. I followed Trish and Jace to their apartment. Jace asked me,

"Do you have a crush on Ally?"

I laughed.

"That's what Randy, Cadence and Dez all ask me. And yes, I like her. She's gorgeous, admirable, super nice and super smart."

Jace laughed.

"That sounds like love to me."

I said,

"And we had four dates, I left her two gift cards, a candle and a necklace with her name on it."

"Sounds even more like you like her."

"I do. I just haven't asked her out yet."

Trish took her key and opened the door to her and Jace's apartment.

"Hello!"

I heard her say in a sing-song voice. Jace and I followed her inside. Isabella was just laying on Cadence's forearm in purple and pink _Sofia The First_ pajamas, and she had a Minnie Mouse plush toy, an Elmo plush toy, a plush toy of the lamb from _Doc McStuffins_ and a latina baby doll. They were just watching _SpongeBob Squarepants_. I could tell because they were watching the episode where he thought he broke his laugh box. Bella was saying,

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Trish was saying,

"Hi, princesa!"

I said,

"Hey, Cadence."

"Hey, Austin."

I tightly hugged my sister.

"What are you doing here?"

I said,

"I live in this building. I also came to ask you if you wanted a ride home."

"Thanks, that would be awesome!"

Trish was mexican and so she spoke fluent spanish and also taught it to her daughter. Jace was white and she was latina, so she was a biracial child. She picked up the child and put on her on her hip and kissed her cheek.

Trish asked Cadence,

"How was she?"

Cadence said,

"I love this kid. She was really fun, really obedient and I got her bathed, teeth brushed and into her pajamas and I decided to let her stay up until you guys came home."

Jace said,

"That's nice of you. Hi, Bella."

Bella said,

"Daddy!"

He kissed her on her cheek. I said,

"Hey, little monster."

I liked to call her that sometimes.

"Uncle Aussin!"

Bella called me Aussin. It was so adorable. I gave her a kiss on the top of her head and she kissed me and yawned a big yawn. Jace turned to his girlfriend.

He asked Trish,

"Who wants to put her in bed?"

Trish laughed.

"I will."

Cadence came over to Trish and Bella.

"Goodbye, Bella. I had fun with you."

She kissed my sister on her cheek.

"Thank you."

Jace said,

"I'll pay Cadence. Cadence, how much do we owe you?"

"I charge about six dollars an hour."

Jace was in thought as he took out his wallet.

"Let's see, your school gets out at what time?"

"Two fifteen."

"And Bella's daycare gets out at three, and it's eight fifteen now. So we owe you thirty dollars."

He took a twenty and a ten from his wallet and Cadence smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, Jace. I had a lot of fun and if you want me to babysit Isabella again, I'd love to do it. And I'd like you to leave me a review on ."

"I'll sure be giving you a good one."

"Thanks, Jace."

My sister put her white hoodie on over her purple, white and coral tank top with a butterfly on it and purple skinny jeans and picked up her backpack, a coral one with white polka dots and her neon pink crossbody purse, and took out her wallet- a blue and purple watercolor print one with a blue bow and a silver heart charm on it and put her money in it. Trish came out and she came over to Cadence.

"Bella's asleep, now. Cadence, thanks so much for babysitting her."

"You're welcome. I had a lot of fun with her. And I hope your nanny is feeling better."

"I'm sure she is. But we'll definitely be hiring you again. How much do we owe you?"

I said,

"It's OK, Trish. Jace already paid me."

Trish said,

"Oh that's right."

I said,

"Goodnight, Trish and Jace. I'm going to bring my sister home."

Trish said,

"You're a good brother."

I said,

"Thanks. Goodnight."

"Goodnight,"

Cadence smiled.

"Goodnight, Cadence,"

Said Trish and Jace in unison. I said,

"Come on, Cadence."

We left Trish and Jace's apartment and went to my car.

"So, what's going on, brother?"

She asked me.

I said,

"Well, Brooke was sitting on my scaffolding smoking marijuana, and Ally helped me send her out."

My sister laughed.

"She's crazy."

"Why I filed a restraining order against her."

Cadence's phone started ringing. She unzipped her purse and unplugged her phone from her portable charger. She said,

"Hi, Mom."

"It was good."

"You don't need to get me. Austin's giving me a ride."

"Yeah, he's a sweetie. I'll be home in about ten minutes. Oh, I know. I'm excited to get my braces off! See you at home. Love you too, Mom. Bye."

She hung up her phone.

"That was Mom. She was calling to see where I was, if I wanted a ride and to remind me that I'm getting my braces off."

"Are you excited to get your braces off?"

"Duh! These things are a pain in the ass! I can't have gum or anything sticky and they hurt. I got these bitches stuck to my cheek and had to go to the ER and get stitches."

I said,

"I remember that. I had to go to the ER today because Doug and I took the inmates to a homeless shelter and one of them cut her hand really badly with a knife."

Cadence said,

"Yikes! Is she OK?"

I said,

"Yeah, she's fine. But we need to take extra care of her."

I stopped my car in front of my house.

"Thanks for the ride, Austin."

"You're welcome."

I hugged my sister and kissed her on the cheek.


	19. Chapter 18

**Hi guys! I was kind of inspired by what's been happening in** _ **The Fosters**_ **, which is my second TV favorite show besides A &A. Damn I love Freeform :) with the whole lockdown storyline. Not was it dignified and handled correctly, but I related to it because back in May, some mentally ill man in his 50's who supported Trump I think but I don't give a rat's ass about his political views considering he threatened my school with a bomb and we had to stay in classrooms and evacuate the school and plus you all have been itching for Austin to ask Ally to be his girlfriend and I decided to have a little twist. Everyone loves a twist, am I right? OK, I'm now going to stop shooting my mouth off and twittering, and I'm going to tell the story. **

ALLY:

I was teaching my third period eighth graders today, giving them a vocabulary lesson. I wrote twenty words on the board and their definitions. After finishing, I said,

"OK, class, take out your comp books and start copying down these words and their definitions."

Today my third period eighth graders were being suprisingly compliant with me. Safe to say, not all my students treated me like a doormat. Many of them were very respectful and mature, turned in their homework on time, showed up to class on time, did the work and did well on tests. I took out a container of pasta salad and cheese and a bottle of strawberry watermelon sparkling water. I allowed my students to eat in class, just as long as they cleaned up after themselves because not only was it common courtesy but we also had problems with rodents and cockroaches and the custodian, Mr. Arthur, complained about having to clean up their poop because they pooped in certain places.

I didn't blame him. I was kind of a squeamish person, so waste and blood made me uncomfortable. I allowed drinking (not soda and certainly not alcohol) and I allowed gum just as long as I didn't see it. Because like I said, I hated people blowing bubbles with their gum, it was one of the rudest things ever. I heard the principal, Kira's dad Mr. Starr (but I called him by his first name, James, and I called every teacher by their first name), say in his thick african american accent,

"Teacher security alert! A mentally unstable and hostile individual has threatened campus with a firearm."

 **(And yes, Jimmy is the principal, if you're wondering)**

This was certainly an issue to take seriously. I stood up, and ran to my windows as if there were a hurricane coming- I closed them and the blinds, locked the door, turned off the lights and I told my students,

"Someone threatened the school with a gun! All of you, silence your cell phones, sit at your desks, and don't make a peep!"

My students surprisingly obeyed me. I hadn't been this scared since my dad had a heart attack and had to go to the hospital. I silenced my phone. My students were all sitting in a U-shape, and lots of their arms were clasped around the knees. One of my students, her name was Aleena Caldwell, she had started crying.

I felt sorry for her, but I knew I couldn't move or make a sound. She just leaned on the shoulder of her boyfriend, Jason Cohen. He put his arm around her and kissed her temple. I could hear him whisper,

"What's wrong, Leena?"

Aleena wiped her brown eyes that had her tears flowing down like a leaky faucet.

"Jason, I'm scared. What if we get hurt? Or what if I lose you?"

He whispered,

"Shh, babe, it's OK. We're safe in here. And Ms. Dawson is keeping us safe."

Aleena whispered,

"I know, I'm probably acting stupid, it's just I'm worried because my dad, or the guy who got my mom pregnant with me, used a gun and when my mom was pregnant with me, he constantly threatened her with it, he drinks and apparently he's now on the sex offender registry."

"Is that why she won't let you meet him?"

"Yeah."

She sunk into his hug. I went over to my desk and I checked the attendance record. Everyone was here. Who the hell could be threatening my job with a gun? Brooke perhaps, because she was mad at me that Austin liked me and because I "accused" the crazy bitch of being on drugs.

She couldn't have acquired a gun- or at least, I didn't think she could have. Another one my students, her name was Bianca Rodriguez, whispered to me,

"Ms. Dawson, who's doing this?"

I whispered to her,

"I don't know, Bianca, but we can't leave this classroom until Mr. Starr gives us the greenlight."

"I'm scared."

"Me too."

I saw Bianca go over to Aleena and hug her tightly. I was just glad she was feeling better. The rest of the class was just sitting still that I know that they were supposed to do that considering we were under lockdown but still it felt like I was in a horror movie. Another one of my students, his name was Nickolas (he went by "Nick") Saunders suggested,

"Hey, why don't we play telephone?"

I whispered,

"Nickolas, now's not a good time. Maybe after Mr. King gives us the signal."

He sighed.

"OK, fine. Just trying to light the mood and trying to have some fun while Mr. Starr keeps us locked in here."

I whispered,

"He's keeping us locked in here for our own safety. Someone threatened our school with a weapon."

We had been sitting there for an hour and Mr. Starr said over the PA,

"The police have been called. Teachers and students, you must leave so that the police can evacuate the school."

I turned the lights back on, opened the window blinds and unlocked the door. My students picked up their bags and headed out the door. I found Jimmy waiting by the door and Kira was with him.

"I'll bring you home, sweetie."

"Thanks, Dad."

Kira tightly embraced me and I embraced Jimmy, too. Kira asked me,

"Are you OK, Ally?"

I said,

"I- I guess, are you guys OK?"

Kira said,

"Yeah."

Jimmy seemed concerned.

"We should all go home. The police have to search campus for the culprit and it's not safe to be on campus right now."

Kira said,

"Good idea."

We left campus and I just went home and laid on my bed. I picked up my phone to call Diana, my boss at Starbucks. She said in her southern dialect,

"Hello?"

I said,

"Hi, Diana. It's Ally. Can I take a personal day off?"

Diana said,

"Sure, peaches. What happened?"

I said,

"Well, I'm a teacher at Kinloch Park middle school, and today someone threatened my school with a firearm. I just need some time to recover."

She sounded very concerned.

"My darling, I'm so sorry! Of course, take as long as you need off."

"Thanks. I'll let you get back to work, now."

 **I hope you guys liked that chapter! I'm going on a field trip to a medical school (I'm very interested in the health field) on a college campus! I can't wait!**


	20. Chapter 19

ALLY:

I heard a knock at the door. I wondered, who was coming to visit me at three thirty in the afternoon. I opened the door to find Trish, holding Bella on her hip. I smiled,

"Hey, guys."

Trish smiled at me.

"Hey, Ally."

Bella smiled an adorable smile that was a bright spot in this traumatic day.

"Aunt Ally!"

She just cooed in her toddler voice and gave me a kiss. Whenever I saw Trish's toddler, she always greeted me with a smile and kiss. My best friend smiled and laughed at her child.

"I'm sure Aunt Ally loves your kiss, chiquita."

Trish giggled. She often called Bella Chiquita.

I said,

"It was definitely an antidote to my traumatic day."

I closed the door behind her and she took off a ladybug backpack from her shoulder and it had a blue _Doc McStuffins_ sippy cup in one of the pockets that fell out, but she picked it up and handed it and the backpack to Bella, as she sat down on my couch by Trish and she started to drink from it. She gave me a look of sympathy.

"Hey, I heard about the lockdown at Kinloch Park. Are you OK?"

I said,

"I guess I am. But it was really scary."

"I imagine. I took today off work because Bella's preschool went on a field trip to the zoo, and I was a chaperone, and I heard about it during lunch when we had a break, I looked at the news and I heard there was a firearm threat at Kinloch Park middle school and immediately my thoughts were on you and Kira."

"When it happened, I was terrified. My students were, too. It got so bad that the students and staff had to leave early so they could evacuate the school."

"I'm glad you all are OK. Hopefully the meanie's in jail now."

"I'm surprised you didn't use any bad words."

Trish giggled.

"As much as I love to curse, I curb my tongue in front of the little one. I don't want her learning any cuss words from me, Jace or anyone else."

I was determined to have this conversation be more than the lockdown for Trish's toddler's sake.

"Hey, little miss Bella,"

I asked. She looked up at me with her brown doe eyes as she was stuffing her face with white grapes. Her small diamond earrings were sparkling.

"What was your favorite animal you saw at the zoo today?"

Bella said,

"The cheetah. It's like Mommy!"

For as long as I'd known Bella's mommy, I'd known she practically had a fetish about animal print. Cheetah print was certainly one of her favorites. Trish asked her,

"Can you do a cheetah sound?"

She lifted up her hand and retracted it, and made just about the cutest little roar I'd ever heard in my life. She this time dove for a container of Oreo cookies from her cute little ladybug backpack. Trish laughed.

"I've gotta show you some shots I took at the zoo today."

She picked up her gold iPhone 6 plus, which was covered in a purple case that looked like the cover to the 90's _Aladdin_ VHS cover. _Aladdin_ was Trish's favorite Disney movie of all time, and not surprisingly, her love for it had been passed down to Bella. Her lock screen was a photo of Bella dressed like Sofia from _Sofia The First_ (Trish's daughter was obsessed with _Sofia The First_ ), in the De La Rosa-Dillon living room with an Ariel kitchen holding an Elmo doll, an Abby Cadabby doll and a stuffed polar bear and her background was a picture of her, Bella and Jace and the three of them were sitting on a playground bench. In the first picture, it had Bella with her name tag that said _Bella Dillon_ and a red scarf tied around her neck and smiling her big toothy smile. In the second, it was a selfie of her and Bella with their name tags (Trish's said _Trish De La Rosa Bella's mommy_ ).

The third photo was a picture of Bella pointing to the alligator. The fourth was of Bella's entire class in front of the rhino encounter. There was a video of her going down the slide at the playground, and she was saying,

"Go!"

Bella came sliding down and she was giggling. Trish was saying,

"Good job, Bella!"

The toddler was saying,

"Again!"

"You wanna go again? OK!"

The video ended with that. I asked,

"Did you have a fun day, Bella?"

The half latina, half white toddler giggled and said,

"Yeah. Mommy was there."

Trish smoothed Bella's wavy brown hair.

"Mommy had fun with you too, Princesa."

The toddler climbed on her lap and Trish kissed her on the head. She just snuggled up to Trish, nuzzling into her chest. I just looked at Bella forlornly, thinking about how lucky she was that no natural disasters had happened at her preschool. She was busy cuddling into Trish's chest, and her toddler mind couldn't even comprehend my shitty circumstances. It almost made me wish I was an innocent young child again.

Trish said,

"I hear you like Jace's friend, Austin,"

Trish giggled as she was rubbing Bella's back.

I said,

"Yeah, I do. He lives across the hall from me. I was grading papers a few weeks ago, and I was just under a lot of stress and needed some coffee and he came with me. I've had four dates with him so far, he's left me gifts in my mailbox at Kinloch Park and here, and yesterday, before he went to work, he left a necklace for me."

Trish gushed,

"Aww, that sounds like romance to me. And I've got Jace, so you deserve your own sugar daddy."

I said,

"I do really like him. He made me gain faith in my love life again after Kevin Harvard."

"The son of a rhymes with witch who cheated on you and is in jail for a DUI?"

"Who else?"

"There was your high school boyfriend Nate Clifford."

Nate Clifford was my boyfriend in our sophomore year in high school. He was a very sweet guy, but we broke up at the end of sophomore year because he and his family had to move to California for his dad's job. Bella immediately yawned and was close to dozing off. Trish was rubbing her back and she whispered,

"I think this one's all tired out from the fun she had at the zoo today. I should probably bring her home so she can have her nap. Ally, you just talk with me or Jace if you need anything."

"Thanks, Trish."

I embraced her and she embraced me back. She picked up a sleeping Bella and her adorable ladybug backpack from the couch and I was very surprised she didn't wake up. Apparently she was a heavy sleeper. It was comforting to know that my best friend and her boyfriend were there for me. My phone was buzzing, and it was my mom.

"Hi, Mom,"

I said.

"Hi, sweetheart. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, Mom. I'm just really traumatized."

My mom said,

"I can imagine. I heard the radio broadcast on my lunch break, and immediately my thoughts were on you. Who came to Kinloch Park and threatened your work with a firearm?"

I said,

"I don't know, but it scared me and my third period eighth graders. I had written them vocabulary words that I'll eventually be giving them a test on, and I asked them to write them down in their composition books, when Mr. Starr announced the firearm threat."

"I'm sorry, Ally."

"It's fine, Mom."

My mother said,

"Do I have to have had brought it on myself? I feel really bad for you because you've been through a lot. You have a two jobs, one with a horrible salary and kids who treat you like a doormat, your father had a heart attack, you have a tough financial state and now you had firearm threat."

I said,

"Yeah, I know. But I have had one thing happen to me. I have this new neighbor and I really like him."

My mom said,

"Tell me about him."

I said,

"His name is Austin Moon, and he lives across the hall from me. He's just the sweetest guy I've ever met, he's funny, he's cute and I just really like him."

My mom asked,

"Have you been on any dates with him yet?"

I said,

"Yes, first time I met him, I was so stressed from grading that I needed some coffee, and he came with me, then we got chinese food and ate at his apartment, then I went to his family's house and then we went for breakfast."

"He sounds like an amazing guy. What does he do for a living?"

"He's a juvenile correctional officer. But he's a lot less sketchy than he sounds. I promise."

 **Hi guys! Just to let you know, the chapter after this will be the epilogue. I want it to end very romantically, kind of accentuating my fixation for romance, especially Auslly romance. It's a disease, a terminal one, so stop me anytime. Let me know in the reviews how you think the lockdown was handled. Thanks for reading! Love, hugs, kisses and peace!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi guys! This is the epilogue of** _ **Life improved with him**_ **. Auslly finally get together, like all you have been wanting to them to. This is also the final chapter. I'm so happy everyone likes it, because I worked exceptionally hard on it and I strive to please every single one of you. OK, enough shooting my mouth off.**

ALLY:

I was just sitting on the couch. I wanted to avoid the news tonight because I was sure there would be something about the lockdown. I just curled in with a thick cotton blanket that used to be my great grandmother, Morwenna Dawson. She gave it to me when she died eleven years ago. I felt like she was closer to me everytime I had this blanket.

I got a call from my dad.

"Hi, Dad,"

I said.

"Hi, sweetie. I just called to say that I'm so sorry about what happened to you today."

I sighed.

"It's not your fault. But, I want to know, how have you been doing, Dad? I haven't seen you since you were in the hospital for a heart attack."

"Great. Katie's been taking good care of me."

"Gotta love Katie."

"So, you got a new boyfriend?"

I said,

"You mean Austin? He's not my boyfriend, but I really like him. He's very nice, he's funny, he's clean cut and he's also sober and clean."

Dad asked,

"I like him and I haven't even met the guy. What does he do for a living?"

I said,

"He's a correctional officer for juvenile delinquents. Don't worry, he's not nearly as sketchy as he sounds."

My dad sounded very happy on the phone.

"I'm glad you found someone you really like."

I said,

"Me too."

Five minutes later, he had to go. I heard a knock at the door. I got up and wrapped myself in the blanket. I opened the door to see Austin.

"Hi,"

I said.

Austin giggled.

"You look like this pillow that my sister has in her room."

I said,

"You're lucky it's cold out and my arms are stuck in this blanket because I would totally slap your ass right now."

I laughed. I knew he was joking, and I liked his sense of humor. He said,

"Um, listen, I wanted to come and check on you. I heard about the lockdown at Kinloch Park and I wanted to make sure you were OK."

I said,

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just very worried about my colleagues and my students."

"I'd be scared too if I had to deal with a firearm threat. Does someone need a bear hug?"

I said,

"A tight one."

He wrapped his arms around me and I squeezed him back. He was a good hugger.

"You're also very adorable when you're wrapped up in a blanket."

He pinched my cheeks and started making cooing noises. I said,

"Come on in."

I took my blanket off and he sat beside me. I covered us both with the blanket. I asked him,

"How's Sammy?"

He said,

"Sammy's fine. Her hand should heal in about three weeks. But the inmates have been very nice to her, which I'm happy about."

He looked into my eyes and smiled.

"My god, you're beautiful."

I stared into his eyes and we kissed again.

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I met you. I love you, Ally Dawson."

I said,

"I love you too, Austin Moon. You're the person I've been waiting for my whole life."

He asked me,

"Ally Dawson, will you be my girlfriend?"

I said,

"I gladly accept. I will certainly be your girlfriend."

We started kissing again. I really loved this guy. He was the sweetest guy, he was funny, he was smart and he was caring. In the beginning, my life was a mess- I was single, I had two jobs (one with a bad salary and kids who had no respect for me), I was on the verge of going broke and my dad had been hospitalized for a heart attack. But I was happier in life now.

 **I hope you guys liked the story! It was so fun to write! I want to thank you all for all the nice reviews you left for me, all the favorites and all the following. I'm starting a new A &A series of one-shots, it's called **_**A &A AU One-shots**_ **. I would greatly appreciate it if you favorited, followed and reviewed. Peace, love, hugs and kisses!**


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